Gov Dayton

[Big Dave2]

In fact, he loves them so much he told a mother that she should cross state lines to buy weed and bring it back to MN for her sick child.

A governor telling a mother to break federal laws. You just can't make it up.

Meh.......I just talked about this same thing with my neighbor who had a really ill 7 year old child with cancer. If it will help ease the pain, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[leech~~]

Meh.......I just talked about this same thing with my neighbor who had a really ill 7 year old child with cancer. If it will help ease the pain, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Sure as a parent you would do anything "maybe even break the law" for your kids but should one of our higher ranking law makers be telling those he leads to break the laws? Someone needs to hold the line on the standard of our laws!

[delcecchi]

Sure as a parent you would do anything "maybe even break the law" for your kids but should one of our higher ranking law makers be telling those he leads to break the laws? Someone needs to hold the line on the standard of our laws!

If it is a good idea he ought to be pushing for it to be the law instead of that POS medical mj law he passed.

[LMITOUT]

Meh.......I just talked about this same thing with my neighbor who had a really ill 7 year old child with cancer. If it will help ease the pain, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[Uncle Bill]

Governor Gaslighting

October 10, 2014.

So Mark Dayton proposed raising the gas tax last night to cover expenses for road repairs:

In the second debate of the 2014 governor’s race, Mark Dayton made news with his very first question, suggesting for the first time that he would seek an increase in the gasoline sales tax to fund transportation.“I would make a specific proposal, including a sales tax on gasoline that will raise close to the $6.5 billion that we’re short in transportation funding over the next ten years,” Dayton said Wednesday night in Moorhead.

If we're talking about $6.5 billion, that means $650 million a year. How would that work?

Well, let's think about that. How much gas is sold in Minnesota on an annual basis? According to the U.S. Department of Energy, we had daily sales of about 3,613,300 gallons a day in 2013.

If you break out the ol' back of the envelope for a few calculations, you'll see that means an annual total of about 2.3 billion gallons of gasoline were sold in Minnesota for 2013. Based on the trend line, you could safely assume the total will be about 2.4 billion for 2014.

So if you're going to raise $650 million in revenue on 2.4 billion gallons sold, that works out to be about $0.27 or $0.28 a gallon. That would be on top of the current gas tax in Minnesota, which is now $0.286 per gallon (link is a PDF). So, essentially you'd be looking at doubling the gas tax in Minnesota. Add the current gas federal gas tax of $0.184 per gallon, and you are talking about an effective tax rate of $0.71 per gallon in Minnesota. That's 71 cents for every gallon of gas you put in your vehicle.

How many gallons of gas do you buy per week? I personally put about 15-20 gallons in my car each week and Mrs. D probably puts half that in her vehicle, so we'll say that's about 23 gallons per week in our vehicles. At $0.28 per gallon, that works out to about $6.44/week more in taxes. Annualized out, that's $334.88 a year. Now, we're safely in the middle class, so an extra $334.88 a year is more of an irritation than a major problem. But if you are not making a lot of money, $334.88 is a pretty substantial sum. What can you buy for $334.88? Well, for many families that would be a few weeks of groceries, or the equivalent of a monthly car payment. It's enough money that many people would feel it.

The governor claimed that it would be a tax on wholesalers, but that doesn't make a difference at all, since wholesalers would pass the added taxes along in the prices they'd charge to the gas stations, so you'd still be paying for it at the pump.

Not surprisingly, Dayton tried to "clarify" things today, even admitting that hiding the tax through wholesalers wouldn't work:

During Wednesday's gubernatorial debate in Moorhead, Dayton said he'd propose adding "a sales tax on gasoline" if elected to a second term. Dayton told reporters Thursday he should have been clearer that he isn't seeking to boost the per-gallon tax assessed at the pump, but rather a tax at the wholesale level.The governor acknowledged such a tax increase would likely get passed down to consumers, and said he's open to other proposals.

No kidding, dude. Well, maybe we can use e-pulltabs again. That worked well.

[Uncle Bill]

Is Mark Dayton Mentally Competent To Govern?

October 10, 2014

The mental and physical condition of any elected official is a proper question and the subject of inquiry in any free and open society. Citizens have an absolute right to know if anything is amiss that would affect the discharge of that individual's duties once in office. Those who argue otherwise, for any reason whatever, ask us to be serfs. I decline.

Oddly, the question of his health has not been asked of Gov. Mark Dayton since a ten minute interview in December of 2009. One and done in this state's media, a wholly owned subsidiary of the DFL. In that interview, Dayton said "I am a candidate for governor and I think people have a right to know this about me." That right to know is not a limited time offer; if anything, subsequent behavior in office has made it more compelling than ever.

Dayton's lifelong history of maladies is well documented; there is no need to go into them here. In the last few years, however, his physical appearance, mental acuity and clarity of speech have all degraded to a shocking degree. Readers know instantly that this is truth, the only question being whether it is improper to discuss it in public. It is not and those who wish to stifle such a discussion have agendas, paid or unpaid, and not particularly hidden ones. Their protestations only underscore the need for having the subject out in the open.

The governor's HSOforum stopped posting video of him in 2013. In gambling, that's called a tell. Some believe that something happened in June of that year, given his Kim Jong-un like absences from the public eye for long periods of time. We can never know for sure but we can observe, and judge, Dayton's countenance and behavior in the time he's been governor. Only we don't know how much he's actually the governor and how much he's manipulated by others around him. The Kim Jong-un analogy is surprisingly apt.

It is a routine entry in Blois Olson's "Morning Take" that "today the Governor has no public appearances but will meet with Commissioners and staff throughout the day."

Does he? We don't know; how would we? How many business days in each year has Mark Dayton made no public appearance? No one in the press has bothered to check, nor will they, and the men and women behind the curtain are not about to tally it up for us either.

We are asked, sotto voce, to act as if we don't notice (for Tom Emmer supporters that means in a low voice, so as not to be overheard). But we do notice. As if we live in some Scandinavian North Korea, however, we are discouraged from speaking about this out loud. Whenever the slightest comment about the subject is made, on Twitter for example, an interesting overreaction occurs. "Keep it classy" and "out of bounds" are the politest expressions of this defensiveness. This is sheer hypocrisy, of course, as those same types would be the first to launch a frontal assault on a governor of the other party. These people are not to be taken seriously.

Dayton hasn't released his medical records so we don't know for sure which medications he is being administered. It defies firsthand experience and common sense, however, to pretend that he is not frequently heavily medicated in public.

Can anyone imagine an engaged Mark Dayton on a full time basis, in public view most of the day for a solid week? Of course not. He's carefully handled to appear for only limited amounts of time in public. Even then, most people cringe out of compassion given his performance. I know I do. The rest of the time when he's out of the public eye one's imagination runs riot. I've come to think of Mark Dayton as a vulnerable adult.

Some disturbing images of Dayton can be seen in the excellent ad released by Jeff Johnson just yesterday.

to view it; tell me things are fine.

Media know how impaired Dayton has become but don't particularly care: they're on the same team and none of them would do anything to harm the progressive agenda. If a republican governor, however, were this manifestly troubled, Minnesota media would cloak themselves in the phony "the public has a right to know" rubric and have at it.

Want in on a little secret? Actually, by now it's an open one:

Media fully expect Mark Dayton will not serve out his full term should he win next month and Tina Flint Smith will take his place. Smith at one time was vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood of North & South Dakota and Minnesota.

It's difficult to convey to the average person the sanctifying effect that that barbaric credential has on democrats in Minnesota. Our Lady of the Dismembered. One imagines her hands perpetually ice cold.

Smith was Dayton's chief-of-staff in his first term. A great many people recognized her as the real power in the governor's office. Think Mrs. Wilson.

Lt. Governor Yvonne Prettnor Solon was not about to be the first female governor if the people who run the executive branch were to have anything to say about it. That hick can be dispatched back to Duluth. She was essentially frozen out from the beginning of Dayton's administration, but only if it were a republican governor treating a woman this way would our media pay attention.

I can name the names of reporters (print, television, radio, online) who know this, who have admitted it to me and to others, and who look forward to the calculated change of chief executive for Minnesota, with no regard for the electoral dishonesty, the betrayal of public trust they enable.

They'd all deny this, of course, and it would be my word against theirs as I don't tape record people surreptitiously (only people without any integrity do that).

I wrote about Dayton's "dissociative" episode when he gave the Lecture to the Policy Fellows of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in September of 2012 (see the blog archive to the right for that date if you wish to read it: "Fisking* Dayton's Humphrey School Lecture").

In the audience for this major speech were Vice President Mondale and University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler. I called that speech disjointed and incoherent. You could feel through the audio alone Dayton take intermittent leave of reality.

Larry Jacobs, head of the school, famously told me on Twitter that the lecture wasn't videotaped because videotape "is expensive" and promptly blocked me. Only the audio was released and you can sense the glue holding the mental joints together dissolve as Dayton receded further into his past while holding his audience of liberals hostage. To be fair, I could feel the audience's discomfort during the many pauses in the speech, before Dayton took off in a completely different direction, a lecture of non sequiturs.

To this day I have not been able to obtain the video of an incumbent governor giving a major public policy speech at a public facility. Now why would that be?

MPR has since removed even the (video) of this event. The memory hole triumphs! Click here to see its initial story but no links to the (video) of the speech or to the (video) of the Q&A remain. The first line of the first comment, however, succinctly sums up the experience of listening to the speech, as I did for a mind numbing twenty-five minutes.

Mark Dayton's fitness for office is a concern commonly remarked upon by Minnesotans from all walks of life and throughout the state. That the media refuse to address it tells you all you need to know about whether there is something to those concerns.

They'd ask but they're afraid of the answer they already know all too well.

Forget Hillary, they're ready for Tina.

[swamptiger]

Quote:

In the second debate of the 2014 governor’s race, Mark Dayton made news with his very first question, suggesting for the first time that he would seek an increase in the gasoline sales tax to fund transportation.“I would make a specific proposal, including a sales tax on gasoline that will raise close to the $6.5 billion that we’re short in transportation funding over the next ten years,” Dayton said Wednesday night in Moorhead.

Even those who benefit from light rail can't be dumb enough to go along with a proposal like that.

Can they?....

[laker1]

Today it was announced this last month more jobs were created than any time in the last 13 years. If it was the other way the other party would use it against him. So he should get some credit the other way.

[leech~~]

Today it was announced this last month more jobs were created than any time in the last 13 years. If it was the other way the other party would use it against him. So he should get some credit the other way.

Dude, get ready for the "All-is-Well" speeches for the next month before Nov 4th. Oh gas dropped down to $2.98! Thanks Dayton and Obama!

[DrJill]

This is the arguement for a "metro bias" in LGA disbursements ?

Quote:

2014 aid for Minneapolis under the new LGA reform proposal

City Minneapolis

2011 population 387,873

2013 current law LGA 64,142,268

Est. 2014 LGA under new proposal 76,077,499

$ increase under new proposal 11,935,231

% increase under new proposal 18.60%

2014 aid for Wells under the new LGA reform proposal

City Wells

2011 population 2,338

2013 current law LGA 893,883

Est. 2014 LGA under new proposal 927,249

$ increase under new proposal 33,366

% increase under new proposal 3.70%

My quick math shows that ...

In 2013, Wells recieved 382 per capita, Mpls only 165.

An extra 217 bucks per person for Wells.

In 2014, Wells 396, Mpls 196.

An extra 200 bucks per person for Wells.

Twice as much LGA per capita for Wells is proof of a metro bias ?

BA HAHAHA, that is just, BA HAHAHA, so, BA HAHAHA, RIDICULOUS !!!!

Now ... let's talk about who has an entitlement mentality.

2300 people getting 900K in aid, and whining about it !!!!!

You can't make it up.

[Ufatz]

Regarding the lengthy post (above) by Uncle Bill- could we please have the name of the writer and the venue in which it appeared.

[LMITOUT]

Is Mark Dayton Mentally Competent To Govern?

Forget Hillary, they're ready for Tina.

Bingo.

[LMITOUT]

Governor Gaslighting

So if you're going to raise $650 million in revenue on 2.4 billion gallons sold, that works out to be about $0.27 or $0.28 a gallon. That would be on top of the current gas tax in Minnesota, which is now $0.286 per gallon (link is a PDF). So, essentially you'd be looking at doubling the gas tax in Minnesota. Add the current gas federal gas tax of $0.184 per gallon, and you are talking about an effective tax rate of $0.71 per gallon in Minnesota. That's 71 cents for every gallon of gas you put in your vehicle.

Don't forget, the Democrats are always looking out for the "little guy".

BAHAHAHAHAHA.

Frauds.

[Eric Wettschreck]

2300 people getting 900K in aid, and whining about it !!!!!

You can't make it up.

Who's whining?

[harvey lee]

I just don't see how anyone could vote for the bumbling fool that is our current Gov.

With this ebola scare that's going on, I'm surprised he's surfaced from the mansion for these debates.

Best recent post I have read. Bumbling is being kind.

[delcecchi]

Regarding the lengthy post (above) by Uncle Bill- could we please have the name of the writer and the venue in which it appeared.

Google is your friend and helper

http://www.looktruenorth.com/

[laker1]

Lot of Choir boys here,they have their mind made up on either side and just old bar room talk from either side.

[leech~~]

Lot of Choir boys here,they have their mind made up on either side and just old bar room talk from either side.

Glad you can join the club! Enlighten everyone!

[Ufatz]

Okay. I Googled the item. As I expected it is from a very conservative site and written by a very conservative guy. And that is just fine. But when you post this stuff you should identify it as such.

Nothing wrong with being a conservative as long as you're honest about it. Aye....and there's the rub!

[swamptiger]

Hard to see what's so attractive about legalized thievery, unless you happen to be on the receiving end.

[PurpleFloyd]

Okay. I Googled the item. As I expected it is from a very conservative site and written by a very conservative guy.

Color me shocked.

[LMITOUT]

LOL.

Did you really expect that to be reported by the Star and Sickle, MPR, or another one of the DFL's propaganda arms?

[Ufatz]

I am simply opposed to anonymous "news articles" being posted in public forums without attribution. Any writing posted in that manner give suspicion the poster means to deceive by implying the item is an objective essay, which that item clearly is not.

I do not care which side of an argument you are on but when you wish to make a point with material from another source fairness dictates you identify the source.

And soon the voters of the state will tell you what THEY think of Governor Dayton whom I admire not so much for his policies as for his ability and willingness to do the public's business while dealing with a variety of physical problems. Which, incidentally, he publicly acknowledges. Given Mr.Dayton's wealth and health problems how many posters here would have the guts to take on the job?

Think about it. Would you?

[LMITOUT]

Pro tip: Wipe your tears after your bout of feigned outrage over seeing one of these "news articles without attribution" and Google it.

If that isn't acceptable then you should probably move along to somewhere else to lessen the chance of seeing this atrocity happen again.

Good grief.

[delcecchi]

I am simply opposed to anonymous "news articles" being posted in public forums without attribution. Any writing posted in that manner give suspicion the poster means to deceive by implying the item is an objective essay, which that item clearly is not.

I do not care which side of an argument you are on but when you wish to make a point with material from another source fairness dictates you identify the source.

And soon the voters of the state will tell you what THEY think of Governor Dayton whom I admire not so much for his policies as for his ability and willingness to do the public's business while dealing with a variety of physical problems. Which, incidentally, he publicly acknowledges. Given Mr.Dayton's wealth and health problems how many posters here would have the guts to take on the job?

Think about it. Would you?

You just noticed this phenomenon of quoting articles without attribution?

And I have no idea what Mr Dayton's motivations for continually seeking positions of power and authority are. Selfless dedication to the public good seems the least likely, actually.

[Ufatz]

Oh no! This is not the first time I have noticed it. But from time to time I feel it useful to call attention to it since it is such a despicable and cowardly tactic.

I do it to alert those who might accidentally fall into this little playground of No Nothings you boy's frolic in down here and freshen it with a name other than the same pathetic half-dozen malcontents who keep the sewer flowing.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha.

Your turn.

[Big Dave2]

Governor Dayton whom I admire not so much for his policies as for his ability and willingness to do the public's business while dealing with a variety of physical problems.

So, the best man for the job isn't the one with the best policies, it's anyone who does the job while enduring personal problems even if they suck at the job?

[delcecchi]

Oh no! This is not the first time I have noticed it. But from time to time I feel it useful to call attention to it since it is such a despicable and cowardly tactic.

I do it to alert those who might accidentally fall into this little playground of No Nothings you boy's frolic in down here and freshen it with a name other than the same pathetic half-dozen malcontents who keep the sewer flowing.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha.

Your turn.

If it is clearly labeled as a quote, eg by being in a quote box, why do you really need to know where it is from, especially for something so clearly an opinion piece?

Are you afraid of opinions not from Daily Kos, DU, or the NY Times? And why do you feel it necessary to insult those who disagree with you? I guess the leftist lust for diversity does not include allowing thoughtcrime.

[Snag]

If his name was Mark Smith, imagine what the press would say about him.

[upnorth]

Ya gotta love Minnesota politics. The same party that elected the very rich Mark Dayton slams Stewart Mills for being rich