Thursday, September 12, 2013

The Met Council’s Wishful Thinking

With some fanfare, the Metropolitan Council issued its predictions on where within the Twin Cities metropolitan area population growth will occur between now and 2040.  Not surprisingly, the Met Council predicts that almost all future population growth will occur in the core cities of the metro area, with little growth occurring in the suburbs and outlying areas.

This prediction is not surprising, because it’s increasingly clear that growth in the urban core will be the only growth that the Met Council will allow to occur in the next 30 years.  The prediction will be self-fulfilling, based on the Met Council’s policy preferences.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota: After Action Report

I attended a meeting of the MNsure Board of Directors this afternoon in St. Paul.  I do not recommend the experience to others.  MNsure is the state government agency overseeing the start up of Minnesota’s Obamacare health insurance exchange.  MNsure’s Board is the body that is supposed to be overseeing the agency.  As Board members themselves were quick to point out, they neither have nor will they exercise any such authority.  It turns out that the buck stops…well, it never stops.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Outsourcing Even a Democrat Can Like

Democrats, as a group, aren’t known as fans of outsourcing, but I’ve found at least one instance where they appear to embrace the practice.

Combing through 2012 Year-End Reports filed at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, I found a few curious entries in the filing of the DFL House Caucus.
The DFL House Caucus is the Democrat political party entity that coordinates the election efforts for the 134 seats in the state House of Representatives.  For 2012, House Democrats reported receiving a total of $189,036.51 of “in-kind” contributions.

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) donated $13,350.20, mostly in “staff and mileage” costs.  The Education Minnesota teachers union donated $63,394.51 in “staff time.”  Taking the top spot, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) donated $108,593.99 in “staff expense” to the House Democrats.
The House Democrats’ Republican counterparts—the HRCC—show only $7,230.63 of “in-kind” contributions.  Of that amount, $6,880 is attributed to “fundraising event” costs.

It’s bad enough that Democrats in Minnesota are so dependent on union cash for financing their election efforts.  Once elected, House Democrats must vote on public employee union contracts and appropriate funds to pay for government employees’ salaries and benefits.  How likely is it that elected Democrats would defy union demands, when Democrats are dependent on unions to staff their campaigns?

Saturday, September 7, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 6: Who are these guys (or gals)?

Another media outlet has begun reporting on the growing scandal surrounding the Federal taxpayer- funded grants issued by the state government agency MNsure.  MNsure is the Obamacare arm in Minnesota about to launch a statewide health insurance exchange.  Since MNsure announced the list of 30 grant winners late last month, it’s turning out that some of MNsure’s “trusted community organizations” don’t qualify as any one of those three things.

Politics in Minnesota (PIM) reports on how—despite having one of the highest uninsured populations—local nonprofits serving the African-American community were largely shut out of the MNsure grants.

Friday, September 6, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 5: Shotgun Edition

The legacy media has finally joined the effort in looking into the curious case of MNsure grantees.  MNsure is the Minnesota state government agency operating the state’s Obamacare health insurance exchange scheduled to launch on October 1st.

Last month, MNsure announced the 30 recipients of a taxpayer-funded Federal grant to promote Obamacare in the state.  Lyon-Dugin Associates was one of a handful of for-profit companies to make the list of what MNsure describes as “trusted community organizations.”

Lyon-Dugin Associates is a private, for-profit company owned by Bruce Lyon-Dugin and Fran Lyon-Dugin.  According to documents on file at the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, the company was created on August 3, 2012.  Questions remain as to how this year-old, two-person, for-profit operation so quickly rose to become one of the state's most trusted community organizations.
 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 4: Campaign Finance Edition

This post follows up on the second post in this series, which focuses on the west-Metro non-profit Small Business Minnesota (SBM).  This 2½-year-old non-profit group is headed by its president, Audrey Britton, according to documents on file with the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office. 

Democrat Britton is a two-time (2010, 2012) candidate for the state House of Representatives seat held by Republican Sarah Anderson, representing the Plymouth area.  Britton maintains an active candidate committee on file with the state’s Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.  Britton’s 2012 candidate profile on the Plymouth Patch lists her leadership role with Small Business Minnesota.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Random Act of Journalism

Some 8 months after the data became available, the Minneapolis Star Tribune finally gets around to an analysis of campaign spending in the 2012 election.

The article (headlined "Spending on Minnesota legislative races has doubled in 10 years") describes how much more money has poured into races for the state legislature in recent years.

Not surprisingly, they bury the lede.  Yes, lots more money is coming into these races, but in recent years, it's almost all on the Democrat/liberal/progressive side of the ledger.

Consider these two facts brought out by the Star Tribune,

"Fueled by cash from unions and wealthy Minnesotans, the Alliance poured nearly $2 million into independent expenditures in targeted legislative races last year.

"Only the DFL Party, with $3.5 million in independent spending on legislative races, spent more in 2012."
 
And,
 
"Republican interests were outgunned that year not just in [King Banaian's] district, but in most other competitive races.
 
"The Star Tribune’s analysis showed that Democratic interests outspent Republican groups in 25 of the 40 most expensive contests. In those races, Democratic groups spent $6.9 million — 20 percent more than the $5.8 million mustered by Republican groups.
 
"While money is not the only determining factor, DFLers swept to victory in 32 of those races, with Republicans winning eight."
 
As I have documented before, much of the money is coming from out-of-state sources.  Minnesotans no longer have any meaningful say in their own politics.  The culprits are not the shadowy Koch Brothers on the right, but the wealthy liberals from the two coasts.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 3: Health Access Edition

Some 30 organizations in Minnesota are set to receive at total of $4 million in taxpayer-funded grants to promote MNsure, the newly-formed Obamacare health insurance exchange.

The MNsure exchange is scheduled to begin operations on October 1st and these 30 groups will split the $4 million to promote the exchange within the state.  While the exact dollar amounts for each group is still to be determined, dividing $4 million by 30 groups produces an average grant of $133,333.33.  According to Minnesota Public Radio, more than 100 organizations competed for the 30 grants. 

Among the 30 grantees to make the cut is a company that had been in business a mere 39 days at the time it was selected by the state agency MNsure.  In fact, it had been in business for only four days prior to the deadline for the MNsure grant application.
 

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 2: Small Business Edition

Some 30 organizations in Minnesota are set to receive taxpayer-funded grants to promote Obamacare in the state courtesy of the newly-created MNsure health insurance exchange.  The lucky 30 were selected from more than 100 applicants and will split $4 million in Federal grant money. 

Among the more familiar names on MNsure’s list—like Dakota County and Planned Parenthood—is the lesser-known west-Metro-based, non-profit Small Business Minnesota (SBM). 

Never heard of SBM?  The 2½-year-old organization and its President, Audrey Britton, were profiled in June by Star Tribune political columnist Lori Sturdevant.  The occasion was the end of the 2013 legislative session, which Britton declared a success,

Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Banana Republic of Minnesota, Part 1: Planned Parenthood

Late afternoon last Friday (5:30 p.m. to be exact) the Minnesota arm of Obamacare—the MNsure health insurance exchange—issued a press release touting the 30 organizations picked to receive grant money to promote the new service.  MNsure is a state government agency collaborative involving five agencies.  MNsure’s Board of Directors includes seven members, only one of which (the Commissioner of the state’s Department of Human Services) is a state employee.  In other words, as a powerful and well-funded independent government entity, MNsure is accountable to no one except the Governor, who appoints all seven members of the board.
 
The MNsure exchange is scheduled to begin operations on October 1st and these 30 groups will split $4 million in Federal grant money to promote the Obamacare exchange within the state.  According to Minnesota Public Radio, more than 100 organizations competed for the 30 grants.  Individual amounts and the specific scope of work for each will be determined later.