Tag Archives: Mark Dayton

There Is No End To Political Correctness

Chris Kluwe

For the record, Kluwe and I share the same position on gay marriage.  We both feel that folks of any sexual preference ought to enter into marriage as far as the state is concerned.  Further, Kluwe and I advocate our positions in social media; me on Facebook, this blog and sometimes Twitter.  Kluwe too.

Our primary difference, aside form the fact that his influence is significantly higher than mine, is that he is engaged in a profession that has a fantastically low career life-span and one that is over the top performance based.  To further tip the scales in my favor, my company faces no arbitrary salary cap or limit to “active employees”.

This week, Chris Kluwe was released from the Minnesota Vikings.  And the PC world is going nuts, including the governor of Minnesota:

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Gov. Mark Dayton thinks sports teams, like politicians, should be honest about decisions that are being made.

“Yeah, I don’t feel good about it,” said Dayton when asked about the Minnesota Vikings decision to release outspoken punter Chris Kluwe on Monday.

“I’m not in a position to evaluate the relative punting abilities, but it seems to me the general manager said, right after the draft, they were going to have competition,” Dayton recalled. “Well, they bring the one guy in, he kicks for a weekend and that’s competition?”

Serious.

The governor feels the need to weigh in on the personal moves of a professional sports team.  I can’t imagine many things less concerning to a governor than that.  However, in true liberal form, he makes his point and then “covers himself” at the same time:

“That’s their decision to make,” Dayton concluded. “They don’t give political advice. I don’t give them coaching advice.”

Yeah, perhaps you should have taken your own advice before you opened your mouth.

Football Stadiums And WHo They Are Built For

There was talk that the Minnesota Vikings were going to move.  The Metrodome is old and not built to take advantage of the revenue streams available in today’s market.  Further, the dome collapsed recently and is showing it’s age.

Given the popularity of the team in Minnesota, the state legislature, run by republicans at the time, along with the governor, a democrat, passed legislation that created a publicly assisted stadium to be built.

At them time I was conflicted.  I hate it that private business is able to successfully lobby the government to get taxpayers to build them infrastructure while keeping all the profits.  But given all the money going the other way, I felt a guilty and legitimate pleasure on being on the receiving end of the public dole.  I don’t like it but I do get to keep my team.

But now the governor is expressing his disappointment in the Viking’s management:

Gov. Mark Dayton wrote a stern letter Tuesday to the owners of the Minnesota Vikings threatening to undo the stadium deal if they pass on the cost of building the $975 million project to the fans.

“The project’s strong support came from many regular Minnesotans, not just rich Minnesotans, because they believed the Vikings are also their team,” Dayton wrote. “If a new stadium were to betray that trust, it would be better that it not be built.”

Dayton sent the letter to Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf.

I refuse to be shocked and outraged over the fact that the governor feels the Vikings ownership is going to increase their wealth as a result of the Viking’s stadium being built with taxpayer money.  But the governor continues to prosecute the issue:

“I strongly oppose shifting any part of the team’s responsibility for those costs onto Minnesota Vikings fans,” Dayton wrote in his letter to the Wilfs. “This Private Contribution is your responsibility. Not theirs. I said this new stadium would be a ‘People’s Stadium,’ not a ‘Rich People’s Stadium.’ I meant it then, and I mean it now.”

The stadium legislation gives the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, which is working with the team to oversee development of the project, the right to own and sell the seat licenses, although the revenue then goes to the Vikings construction costs. “Reportedly the purpose for this arrangement is to shield revenue from taxes,” Dayton wrote in the letter dated Nov. 13. “If true, I deplore it.”

He added that since it is the Authority which will make the decision on whether to sell the licenses, “I will urge its Board not to proceed.”

I don’t know what kind of tool thought otherwise; of COURSE building stadiums for sports teams is being done for the rich at the expense of the non-rich.

Minnesota: Mark Dayton Blinks – What This Means For America

The Democratic governor of Minnesota backed down yesterday.  Said governor, who claimed to be elected into office with a mandate, has realized that he’s damaging the state of Minnesota.  Unlike his election, the election of a republican congress DOES carry a mandate.  And that mandate is “no new taxes”.  So, after allowing the state to experience a government shutdown for nearly two weeks, the governor accepted a deal that the republicans had offered as far back as June 30.

Despite my serious reservations about your plan, I have concluded that continuing the state government shutdown would be even more destructive for too many Minnesotans,” Dayton wrote to legislative leaders. “Therefore I am willing to agree to something I do not agree with — your proposal — in order to spare our citizens and our state from further damage.

Dayton walked away from the edge.  I suspect that he realized his partisan agenda didn’t mesh with the responsibilities of governing a state.  And he relented.

This should serve as a guide to national republicans.  This is how the debate is to be won.

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Dear Minnesota Republicans

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Republican Congress,

Congratulations on your efforts to force the liberal leftist Governor into agreeing to your deal.

Now, don’t be asses and insist on your social agenda policies. This is about the budget. Let it BE about the budget.

Love,
Pino

Minnesota: A Foretaste Of The Feast To Come

Minnesota is closed.

As of 12:01 AM July 1, the state has shut down.  A disagreement over how to balance the budget between the Democrat governor and the Republican Senate has caused a stalemate.  Without a budget, the state government officially closed Friday morning.  State parks, rest areas, road construction and other services were shuttered.

State employees were sent home.

The battle just got real for a whole bunch of people; a WHOLE bunch.

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