Almanac: At the Capitol

As new House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers took over the corner office of former Minority Leader Marty Seifert we were there.  It was a very friendly transfer of power to say the least with Seifert leaving voluntarily to run for governor.  Seifert plans to make it official next week and he has a new "business casual" wardrobe to go along with his new aspirations.  It was the first time anyone can remember Seifert not wearing a suit and he was proud of the look we joked looked a lot like the patented Pawlenty blue shirt. 

Zellers showed his eye for public relations by having his adorable kids help pack up his old office in front of our cameras.  As we'll show tonight, he has not been shy about letting his private life inform his public decisions.  In cracking down on sex offenders in the 2003 session he held up a picture of his daughter Reagan and said he didn't want another innocent life lost.  We also get a peak at the black lab he often mentions and mentions and mentions in floor debates.  It should be fun watching Minority Leader Zellers square off against Majority Leader Sertich this session since they own the biggest microphones on the floor.  In fact, we feel pretty smart this week.  A few years ago we featured two young rising stars, Sertich and Zellers, on Almanac: At the Capitol.

Finally, as the new minority leader entered his new office, the old minority leader departed with a fist bump.  It's another reminder that we do have a new younger generation of leaders on the Republican and Democratic side in the House.  We'll have much more tonight on Almanac.

The former Minority Leader Marty Seifert's staff has created a list of the "Top 100 Seifertisms" and we thought we'd share some highlights for inspiration to the new minority leader:

“When the waterhole shrinks, all the animals look at each other differently.”
Seifert at a 2009 press conference.

“This would break Tim Pawlenty’s promise to not turn us into a cold Arkansas.”
Seifert responding to Rep. Phyllis Kahn’s 2003 bill to allow the marriage of first-cousins.

“You were voted off the island last year. The tribe has spoken. We will balance this budget without raising taxes.”
Seifert responding to 2003 DFL demands for higher taxes.

“If you want to mandate things on the Catholic Schools, go into the priesthood.”
Seifert in 2003 scolding House DFLers who unsuccessfully tried to amend a bill on the House floor to require public school mandates on parochial and private schools.

“My specialty is turning sacred cows into hamburger.”
Seifert during a 2004 debate on budget priorities.

“You are engaged in the Hannibal Lecter style of politics, by eating each other to fund your projects.”
Seifert on a series of 2004 amendments that would shift funds from other projects to the Northstar commuter rail project.

“Bureaucrats are always worried that somewhere, someone may be having fun.”
Seifert on his 2004 bill to overturn a ban on campers at the State Fair.

“The honeymoon between Tim Pawlenty and Larry Pogemiller will make Britney Spears’ marriage look like a long-term relationship.”
Seifert in 2006, following the selection of Sen. Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis) as Senate Majority Leader.

"The Governor's budget is like a homely blind date. I was expecting more when I opened the door this morning."
Seifert on the Governor’s first budget proposal in 2007.

“Last year was like Star Wars and we blew up the tax death star and now this year it’s like the Empire Strikes Back. They over-rode the veto, and they got rid of Molnau. Heck, we could even find out that Pogemiller is my father. The elections will determine the next movie.”
Seifert in 2008, comparing the 2007 and 2008 sessions.

“I think we are all turning into bats. Legislators work all night and do nothing during the day.”
Seifert in 2008 on late night sessions, marked by little progress during the day.

Minority Leader Kurt Zellers held his first official press conference today and it was by no means his first press conference, but it certainly felt different than when he was just a regular lawmaker.  People held doors open for him and eagerly shook his hand.  Zellers repeated that his caucus will "try to restore fiscal sanity to government."  He admitted he's still drinking from a fire hose and hasn't had time to call his mother, wife or the governor yet today.

For a guy who's served just over 5 years, we asked what kind of experience he has recruiting candidates and raising money.  Zellers cited his resume working for four statewide campaigns including Sens. Rod Grams and Norm Coleman and noted his first job with a campaign was doing small dollar fundraising.  At 39 years old Zellers compliments the 30-and-40-something DFL leaders in the House.

Zellers is also the first minority leader from the suburbs in years.  He said "the one thing I do represent is the suburbs."  He lives in the fast-growing Maple Grove where the father of two said the demographic is "38 to 42 with 2.5 kids and a black lab."  For the record he has a black lab who he's talked about in debate along with his young children.  We'll have a behind-the-scenes look at Zeller's first days in office this week on Almanac. 

Rep. Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) is the new House Minority Leader.  Just before 10pm caucus PR guy Kevin Watterson tweeted the news and sent out a news release more than half and hour later (proving news is happening faster on Twitter these days).  The caucus vote was swifter than expected with Zellers winning in 4 ballots after serving just over 5 years in the legislature.

After being elected Zellers said:  “Our caucus will continue to be the peoples’ advocate for a government that spends responsibly, sets priorities and keeps a lid on taxes.  That means more than just sitting back and saying no every time Democrats propose a new tax increase.  We will offer new solutions and new ideas, all with a continued respect for the taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars."

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher quickly sent out a news release around 10:15pm beating the House Republicans to their announcement. She congratulated Zellers and vowed to continue weekly meetings with the minority leader.  Kelliher added that "I remain committed to openness, transparency and a spirit of compromise in the Minnesota House and hope Rep. Zellers shares those goals." 

Earlier I blogged about the new minority leader saying:  I've known Zellers for more than a decade dating back to when he was press secretary for U.S. Senator Rod Grams.  So Zellers knows PR which is valuable for a minority leader who has to deal with the press a lot.  He is from a newer fast-growing suburb and that's where the critical population mass now lives and it's where statewide elections are decided.  He is young and known for having fun and playing pranks on the House floor.  He has also become a more serious conservative voice on policy issues like hospital expansion, jobs and the economy.  He has publicly gone through personal tragedy losing an infant and sponsoring legislation to get stillborns a birth certificate.  So he is fiercely proud and devoted to his young children who often visit him at the Capitol.

In his final hours in his leadership office House Republican Minority Leader Marty Seifert conducted an exit interview with the press.  Surrounded by bubble wrap and a cart full of his packed personal items, Seifert prepared to move into a smaller office and make way for a new caucus leader.  He proudly showed the huge stack of messages on the table of phone calls he has personally returned as minority leader.  The candidate for governor will make it official July 7 or 8 at a business in Fridley "away from the pillars of the Capitol."

Seifert said the voting for a new leader could go late into the night tonight or early into tomorrow morning.  He verified that a 3rd or 4th name could still emerge to challenge declared candidates Kurt Zellers and Randy Demmer.   He said the biggest challenge for the new leader will be being the "chief recruiter, fundraiser, communicator and fire chief to put out fires."   The outgoing leader says the immediate job for the incoming leader will be recruiting candidates and raising money.  Seifert citing running Republican candidates in all 134 House seats and breaking fundraising records as some of his biggest accomplishments, but "having a cohesive message... and holding the caucus together" despite one override was what he sees as his legacy.  He's always been friendly to the press and noted "in the battle of Google searches I've been quoted more times than the Speaker (of the House)."

In terms of the race for governor, Seifert has a huge monied name in Republican politics, Bill Cooper, on his side as a finance chair.  Seifert says a candidate will have to raise $3 million at a minimum, most candidates I've talked to say they need to probably hit $5 million.  He thinks at the Republican Convention on Sept. 19th if there's a straw poll the dozen candidates will be down to just three or four and by mid-session he expects there to be a frontrunner.

So it appears the leading names for House Republican minority leader are Rep. Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) and Rep. Randy Demmer (R-Hayfield).  Current Minority Leader Marty Seifert is stepping down to run for governor.  Rep. Tom Emmer is now also considering a run for governor and not running for minority leader contrary to what he had stated a couple of weeks ago.  Emmer also told me a couple of months ago he had never thought of running for higher office.   A year ago Seifert wasn't considering running for governor either.  A lot has changed with Gov. Pawlenty's decision to not seek a third term.  It's also possible another name will emerge that isn't out there now, no one expected Sen. Dave Senjem to emerge as the Senate Minority Leader.

Zellers and Demmer are pretty well known to the Capitol crowd, but probably not very well known to the general public.  I've known Zellers for more than a decade dating back to when he was press secretary for U.S. Senator Rod Grams.  So Zellers knows PR which is valuable for a minority leader who has to deal with the press a lot.  He is from a newer fast-growing suburb and that's where the critical population mass now lives and it's where statewide elections are decided.  He is young and known for having fun and playing pranks on the House floor.  He has also become a more serious conservative voice on policy issues like hospital expansion, jobs and the economy.  He has publicly gone through personal tragedy losing an infant and sponsoring legislation to get stillborns a birth certificate.  So he is fiercely proud and devoted to his young children who often visit him at the Capitol.

Demmer more recently emerged as someone to watch in the caucus.  He ran for congress in First Congressional District.   He lost the bid for the Republican endorsement to Mayo Doctor Brian Davis who went on to lose to Congressman Tim Walz.  Prior to that Demmer was seen as a quiet guy with a background in farming and business.  He has remained very vocal since last year's bid for higher office.  He spoke a lot on the floor and made it on to the Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy which became the public body for trying to negotiate a session-ending deal.  It gave him a higher profile and broader stage to dive into the meat of Capitol politics.  There may still be questions about a harassment lawsuit apparently settled out of court more than a decade ago. 

Rep. Paul Kohls (R-Victoria) is running for governor.  That makes him the second Republican to officially throw his hat into the ring.  The media friendly lawmaker stopped by the Capitol pressroom to tell us he has filed his campaign with the state Campaign Finance Board.  He said "it has been an incredible couple of weeks."  The young-looking lawmaker who's in his mid-30s added "there is an appetite for a fresh new leader for the party." 

He's heard from a lot of delegates that he's the kind of candidate they could support, but they want to see who else gets in.  The quotable conservative faces some tough female competition from fellow lawmaker Rep. Laura Brod and former State Auditor Pat Anderson.  Kohls acknowledged "if Republican delegates decide to endorse a woman, I'll have a tough time."  Most candidates say they'll need to raise about $5 million for a race for governor and forgo state spending limits.   Kohls said "it's a big state and there's a lot of people to see and a lot of money to raise."

Gov. Pawlenty is exercising executive power to unilaterally unallot and solve the budget shortfall himself.  The biggest chunk of cash comes in education where he plans to delay nearly $2 billion of payments to K-12 schools.  The deepest direct cut of $300 million comes to aid to local governments.  Health and human services closely follows with a $236 million cut.  General Assistance Medical Care is eliminated in March, earlier than originally planned.  Pawlenty was most passionate in talking about unsustainable growth in health care saying "we have sounded the alarm for years, now we have their attention."

The mayor of the state's largest city stood outside the governor's office afterwards and had a strong reaction.  Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said it's "time for the governor to stop throwing bombs on his way in and out of visits to primary states and sit down and bring people to the table and get to work."  He said the governor is not focused on Minnesota, but running for president.  Rybak said he budgeted worse numbers so the impact for his city is less than expected.   The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities told mayors to "brace for deep cuts and significant property tax increases."

The only lawmaker to schedule a press conference to react to the budget cuts was Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark.  She said Minnesotans should be concerned about their democracy with the unprecdented executive action and added Gov. Pawlenty is "not a czar, not an emperor, not a grand poobah, he's a governor, unallotment is meant to be a scalpel, not an ax and what we say today is an ax falling."  Clark said his moves will result in tens of thousands of job losses, the state employee union said there will be about 3,000 private sector jobs lost at the state, local and educational level.  And afterwards Clark told us she is "interested in running for governor" and many people have talked to her about it and most candidates will have to decide by the end of summer.

GOP candidate for governor and Minority Leader (for another week) Marty Seifert sent out a supportive press release saying "unallotment is not anyone’s ideal solution, but it’s what the session came to when the other side proved they could not set priorities or embrace reform."  DFL candidates a 'plenty jumped on Pawlenty including Marty, Thissen, Gaertner.  Potential candidate and still House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher also issued a statement saying "in just under an hour today, Governor Pawlenty  has done more damage to the Minnesota than he has throughout his entire career."

This is what a budget surplus looks like:  an oil well pump.  Our neighbors in North Dakota are looking at a budget surplus over a billion dollars while we hit a nearly seven billion dollar shortfall in Minnesota.  Oil has a lot to do with.  In areas that were once flat farm fields now feature the imposing steel structures dipping deep into the earth to recover riches.  North Dakota is the 5th largest oil producing state and when oil prices soar so too does their economy.

I returned to the Williston area in northwestern North Dakota and the landscape has changed since I last worked there nearly 15 years ago.  The population has grown from 12,000 to 15,000 in the past few years.  Things have slowed a bit according to local folks, but the town is busy and there are high paying jobs out in the oil fields.

We saw plenty of these Halliburton clad workers in town as well as a local office for the oil giant.  There are mansions going up next to mobile homes.  The contrast is rather surreal.  When I worked for the local NBC station as the 10pm anchor back in the 90s the town was struggling and we did many stories on local economic development efforts.  Now you see "help wanted" signs on main street.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie weighed in on his and Gov. Pawlenty's shared responsibility to sign an election certificate in the Coleman/Franken Senate race saying "as soon as he signs it, I'll co-sign it, that's what the law requires." 

Ritchie made the comments at a broader election process briefing for reporters saying "my responsibility is to uphold the constitution and to perform my duties, in Minnesota law it clearly states at the end of appeals process which the Minnesota Supreme Court has stated ends with Minnesota Supreme Court, the certificate shall be issued.  If a higher court chooses to step into Minnesota politics and to try to change Minnesota law, declare our law unconstitutional or something like that there's no way to predict that.    The Minnesota Supreme Court also said to the U.S. Senate you don't need a certificate from Minnesota because the U.S. Constitution says the Senate is the judge of it's own members." 

The state's top election official added that he believes the U.S. Senate has been listening to Minnesota because his office got a lot of requests for copies of judges' rulings from U.S. Senate staffers.