Almanac: At the Capitol

Gov. Pawlenty brought renewed prominence to one of the hot button political issues: Immigration. He unveiled a series of executive actions like requiring anyone doing business with the state to verify their employee’s citizenship and legislation, like abolishing sanctuary cities in Minneapolis and St. Paul and penalizing the cities with a 10% cut each year the ordinances are in place. The governor acknowledged the last proposal will be controversial, if not impossible to get through a DFL legislature. Pawlenty said these were "reasonable steps" but there were lots of people packed into his office that loudly disagreed. Sen. Patricia Torres Ray was visibly angry, afterwards saying she was "very disappointed" and none of the proposals would become law. The Hispanic lawmaker accused the governor of playing election year politics and draining scarce state resources for a federal problem.