Almanac: At the Capitol

Do you remember "Fast-Paced Paul," the quirky campaign ad for Paul Wellstone where he raced from place to place looking for the incumbent US Senator? That's how I'll be acting this week. So far, I have 18 bills scheduled for committee hearings this week. That's more bills than 33 of my colleagues have even introduced this year!

I'll be racing from committee to committee, presenting bills on an eclectic mix of topics: scrap metal theft prevention, childcare, safe patient handling in nursing homes, the Secretary of State's elections bill, the Governor's public safety bill, an excise tax on paint to pay for lead poisoning prevention. Others on the list are proposals in the public safety budget division, which I chair. They include a mentoring program for children whose parents are incarcerated, reentry proposals for offenders who need a strong restart when being released from prison, and grants for various youth-serving organizations.

The electronic waste recycling (e-waste) bill will get its second hearing, this time in the Judiciary committee, on Tuesday. Then it will be heard in State and Local Government Committee next Monday and Environment Budget Division next Thursday. I had assumed the Attorney General's predatory lending bill would be heard this week, but luckily for me, it has been pushed back.

If you hear something in the news this week that starts out, "Senator flips out at Capitol," look for my name somewhere in the story!

Growing Government by Any Other Name Is Just the Same

It's going to be interesting to see how the DFL will fit billions more of spending promises into a sausage casing that's not big enough. This morning in the House Finance Committee, it looked like a bidding war whenever special revenue accounts were brought forward for various Committee Chairs to raid. Also, for all of the political bantering and criticism against the GOP and the Governor about fee increases in the last election, I have a bad feeling that the DFL will start renaming many tax increases as "fee increases" in the hopes that they can fool the voters. Trust me, the voters are smart enough to know when more money is leaving their pockets. I'd suggest not labeling a big Deed tax increase as a "Deed Fee" or tax increases on booze as a "Treatment Surcharge" or something close to it.

Fritz is correct in saying that the DFL cannot help itself in raising more taxes — they may call it "closing loop-holes" or "surcharges" or "fee increases" and the voters will catch on quickly that the criticism of these types of tactics were valid in the last election. How soon they forget.

Yes, the word game was tried by politicians of both parties in the past. The easy response will be "you guys did this too" as an excuse. Voters will always outsmart the politicians. Growing government by any other name is still the same.

We keep hearing about the so-called moderate/suburban freshman. I can see why they are suburban due to their mailing addresses, but there's nothing to prove moderation, at least yet. Can the press actually identify some moderate VOTES of these people, rather than their rhetoric? Many DFL candidates campaigned with a moderate look, but that's about where it ends. The only thing moderate to conservative about Congressman Tim Walz is his haircut, at least by what his voting record says. The House Republicans have offered many thoughtful amendments to bills, but very rarely have we seen any of these so-called moderates break ranks with the liberal leadership, either on the state level or the federal one. They still follow like lambs after the liberal leadership. Or should I say, quot;leader-sheep" to be more correct?