Sunday, April 24, 2011

This Could Take Awhile...

I am thinking we should start a pool regarding when the the Special Session will end??? Not whether there will be one or not... Any bets?

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5 comments:

  1. I'm betting that Dayton hasn't the mental nor political strength to put up the fight. So, it ends before it begins.

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  2. Dayton will have to do one special session to keep up appearances. But if GOP then whispers in his ear that every subsequent bill will be less, not more, the Special Session could be over in a week.

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  3. We'll see... I just don't see that he has anything to lose by dragging it out and everything to gain...

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  4. I say don't underestimate Dayton. I'd much rather have him than MAK facing off with the GOP. It does seem that the no to tax hikes legislature has a distinct advantage in these budget showdowns, however.

    Dayton will win some battles, though. His veto pen should be able to effectively limit changes in educ. policy to those with which he agrees. Despite Jeb Bush coming to town, I don't think we will be seeing vouchers or other ed. reforms he advocates anytime soon in MN.

    Since I can't think of anything for which the GOP would compromise their anti tax views, I will predict a short special session. The GOP will largely be the winners and the low income people of our state the losers.

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  5. If the GOP was smart, which few have claimed, they would package the whole works into a single bundle, just as Dayton has demanded, and send it up there. If he vetoes the whole works he gets nothing, and the GOP should then announce that every subsequent submission will be SMALLER. They can do that, since they're already increasing spending 4% over last year.

    I think Dayton thinks he can line-item veto things he doesn't like, but that only applies to budget items, not policies that might be tied to them, and can only result in LESS spending. He can't line-item things INTO the budget, just out of it.

    It doesn't mean Dayton won't continue to try to screw things around for political points and try to advance his liberal wacko agenda, but if the GOP sits tight he'll fold up like fine Origami paper.

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