Fear the sweater vest!

So much for Governor Mitch Daniels’ “truce” on social issues. Rick Santorum refused to raise the white flag on his principles and charged ahead. Tonight he celebrates a trifecta victory in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, all but shattering the myth of Romney’s inevitable cruise to victory in the presidential primary.

I’ll admit it. I didn’t see it coming. To be sure, this victory comes with caveats, as I wrote here. Santorum picked up only five delegates tonight and has 22 delegates to Romney’s 106, but it’s a move in the right direction. (The delegate count is here.)

But Santorum understands something that few of the other candidates can put into words: that the power to mandate is the power to compel and compulsion must be grounded on something higher than the mere will of the sovereign. This is a very effective argument against Barack Obama, but it it also a very effective one against Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, who also supported the Wall Street bailouts, cap and trade (taxing breathing) and of course, the individual mandate in health insurance. Both Gingrich and Romney are essentially progressives in their view that there is nothing government mustn’t do.

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Update: The Colorado GOP Chair has announced that Rick Santorum has won the caucus of the Centennial State.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A resurgent Rick Santorum won Minnesota’s Republican presidential caucuses with ease Tuesday night and reached for victory in Colorado, raising fresh questions about front-runner Mitt Romney’s appeal among the ardent conservatives at the core of the party’s political base.

Santorum triumphed, as well, in a nonbinding Missouri primary that was worth bragging rights but no delegates.

“Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota,” the jubilant former Pennsylvania senator told cheering supporters in St. Charles, Mo. Challenging both his GOP rival and the Democratic president, he declared that on issues ranging from health care to “Wall Street bailouts, Mitt Romney has the same positions as Barack Obama.”

Returns from 74 percent of Minnesota’s precincts showed Santorum with 45 percent support, Texas Rep. Ron Paul with 27 percent and Romney—who won the state in his first try for the nomination four years ago—with 17 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trailed with 11 percent. (more…)

Santorum: Not Much of an Opening for the Former Senator

Several sources are predicting a Santorum surge in Missouri and Minnesota tonight, but there’s reason for pause before we order out the “Rick 2012″ bumper stickers. Caucuses depend on two things: money and organization. Santorum has neither. Despite an impressive win in Iowa, it is getting harder and harder for him to keep up, because he is second to last in the delegate count with only eight so far.   That may well change tonight, but here are some reasons to be skeptical of a Santorum win, even if he manages to pull off a victory in Missouri or Minnesota:

1. Even if Santorum wins in Missouri, it’s nothing more than a beauty contest. Knowing full well that their vote won’t have any effect on the delegate count, election officials are predicting that only 23% of party loyalists will bother showing up to the polls, according to stl.today.com. Given that Newt Gingrich’s name isn’t on the ballot, Santorum is hoping to show that his victory in the Show Me State will show GOP activists he’s the best anti-Romney. “Protest vote” or not, Santorum needs the win, but what if he loses to Romney in a symbolic race?
2. Santorum isn’t on the ballot in several other states, including Indiana and Virginia, meaning he will forgo 46 and 49 delegates respectively. Santorum is also not on the ballot in Washington, D.C. and lacks full delegate slates in North Dakota, Ohio, and Illinois.

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Here’s a headline from a Minnesota Public Radio news story that should cause some sleepless nights for leaders of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers: “Teacher seniority, NCLB top education in low-key legislative session.”

The story reports that Minnesota lawmakers want to end the practice of basing teacher layoffs on seniority rankings, a disgusting practice known as “last in, first out.”

The state currently mandates “that schools use quality-blind seniority privileges for retention decisions,” said state Rep. Pat Garofalo, a Republican, according to MPR News.

“That doesn’t work; it’s being widely criticized. I think we’ll take a look at repealing that,” Garofalo said.

Here’s why this story should have teacher union leaders reaching for the antacid. Not only is “last in, first out” in danger of being repealed in the union-friendly state of Minnesota, but a left-wing media outlet describes the proposal as being part of a “low-key legislative session.”

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Imagine that you are a successful small-business entrepreneur.

And then imagine that the government was forcing you to spend $30,000 to build something utterly useless just to prove that you were serious about your business.  Sound crazy?  That is essentially what is happening to Minnesota funeral-home entrepreneurs:

Verlin Stoll is a classic American entrepreneur.   Although he’s only 27 years old, Verlin opened his first business, Crescent Tide funeral home, in St. Paul last April.  He prides himself on being “a different kind of funeral and cremation service” by providing high-quality funeral goods at a lower cost than his competitors.

With basic services at merely $250, Verlin saves his customers serious money.  The bigger funeral homes on average charge ten times as much.  Indeed, Crescent Tide is one of the only businesses in the area that benefits low-income families who cannot afford the high prices of the big funeral-home companies.

Predictably, Verlin’s business model is a success.  And he wants to expand on that success by hiring new employees and building another business so even more Minnesotans can benefit from his services.  Unfortunately, there’s an obstacle standing in his way:

Big government.

Minnesota refuses to let Verlin build a second funeral home unless he first builds a $30,000 embalming room.  He doesn’t have to actually use the room, it just has to be there.  As Institute for Justice economic liberty expert Katelynn McBride explains: (more…)

The Minnesota chapter of a national civil liberties legal group is going to court to fight for the property rights of a Winona man who’s got other battles on his hands:  He’s currently serving as a U.S. advisor in war-torn Afghanistan. The Institute for Justice (IJ) will ask a Minnesota District Court in Winona to strike down a city ordinance prohibiting Ethan Dean, now on his fifth tour of duty in the Mideast, and three other homeowners from renting out their property.

“This is a law that started in Winona and has spread to other cities in Minnesota and what we need to do is stop this trend before it goes any further,” said Anthony Sanders, staff attorney with IJ’s Minnesota chapter. “The right to rent out your home is a fundamental property right, a traditional and accepted use of your property and Winona is trampling on that.”

The Freedom Foundation of Minnesota reported earlier this year on Dean’s campaign on the home front against the controversial Winona ordinance known locally as the “30 percent rule.” Dean says the ordinance is a double whammy.  By restricting rental properties to only 30 percent of houses per block, it deprives homeowners of rental income. Without a rental permit, houses are also less appealing to prospective buyers. Dean says the ordinance has cost him more than one opportunity to sell his $139,000 house, located in a prime rental area in this college town.

“I don’t really understand how someone believes they have the right to tell someone else how and what they can do with their home, but it is a strange world at times, I guess,” Dean told FFM at the time. City officials view the measure as a way to preserve the single family character of city neighborhoods particularly near Winona State University by regulating the number of houses rented mainly to college students. Complaints over student parties, vandalism and absentee landlords led to the imposition of the ordinance in 2005.

“It’s not ideal, but it’s working right now and it’s helping to address our problem of density of rental properties around the downtown core area and Winona State,” city council member Debbie White told FFM earlier this year. “We’ve been losing residences and homes and trying to keep a balance in our neighborhoods.”

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This week, while walking to classes at Minnesota State University Moorhead, I kept seeing members of the Occupy MN movement walking around with signs, trying to recruit students to go down to Minneapolis and join their protest. I decided to go talk to two of the men and get more information about their movement; more specifically, I asked why they were personally involved. They told me how they both worked at fast food restaurants and were worried about getting a better job after they graduate this year.

As a college student and journalist, I can totally relate to their concerns; however, I totally disagree that forcing the “rich” (for this movement, that seems to be anyone making more than I am at a given moment) to pay higher taxes than they already do will somehow create jobs. I wanted to see what the rest of their members were thinking, so I decided to go to the meeting that night with them.

Everyone in the movement was extremely nice to me and genuinely cared about the direction our country was heading. Some of the members did make some, in my humble opinion, absurd comments. One of the older women there tried to recruit us to help the union members protest American Crystal Sugar. She told us about the importance of unions:  “Labor has made this country great. Many people are telling us that unions aren’t important anymore, but unions have got the middle class where we are today and are just as relevant as ever.”

Many of the people there didn’t identify themselves with either political party. They all talked about corporate greed and how both sides were maintaining the status quo, acting as puppets of the wealthy. One man said, “As long as both sides get paid by the same people, nothing will change. We aren’t a democracy by the people anymore; it is controlled by the corporations. Take the money out of the system or you are just spinning your tires. I don’t think the liberal model of trying to make them feel guilty is working; we need a group of protestors like in New York to scare the shit out of people — legally of course. It scares the hell out of the right wing media who is trying to turn us into an angry mob with no purpose.”

Another man built upon the previous statement, “Egypt showed the world you can show up and change things. We will be worse off and the corporations will be better off unless we are engaged like the protestors in New York. They got arrested, but they keep coming back. That’s the type of determination we need.”

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Elizabeth Blackney discuss the latest Solyndra developments, the scandal that gets juicier by the day and how it may impact Obama’s 2012 chances. Then Elizabeth gives us her take on Michele Bachmann’s claim that vaccinations are anti-liberty, and that the HPV vaccination caused mental retardation in the daughter of someone Bachmann met at the debate. As Elizabeth puts it, Michele Bachmann needs to “pray the crazy away.”

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Solyndra failure draws attention to other firms
Is the Solyndra Scandal Obama’s Watergate?
Michele Bachmann’s Former Campaign Manager Calls ‘Retardation’ Comment A Mistake
Rick Perry knocks Michele Bachmann’s HPV story

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Recently an aide of presidential candidate, Tim Pawletnty said: Michelle Bachmann is drawing attention in part because of her sex appeal. He later apologized for the inapropriate yet flattering statement. Was Pawlenty’s aide wrong in saying that? I think it’s a fair and true assessment.

Michelle Bachmann, the Tea Party favorite is intelligent and attractive. However, she makes some serious mistakes. The mix up in birth places for American icon and film star John Wayne with  pshycotic clown/serial killer John Wayne Gacy is noteworthy. If not moderately hysterical in a sick and perverse way. OK, everybody makes mistakes, but I’m thinking if she researched Mother Theresa. Bachmann would come back and say Mother Theresa worked in New Dehli and made some really good sandwiches.

Substance is far more important than flash and charisma. Too many Americans were lulled into the smooth operator Obama trance. Practically, everybody bought into that. Even Coinstar wanted change.

So what if Mr. Pawlenty is slightly mannequinesque. I like him.

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As we head into Independence Day weekend, Minnesotans have more on their mind than just holiday celebrations. Late Thursday night Legislators sat in their chambers waiting to be called into a special session in order to pass the “lights-on” bill that would prevent the government from shutting down until a deal could be reached. Meanwhile Governor Dayton was holding a press conference in which he referred to the “lights-on” bill as a “publicity stunt” several times, and never called the special session. As a result of the shutdown, over 22,000 state employees will be forced out of work.

The Governor keeps referring to the ‘cuts’ in the Republican budget as “draconian” which is absolutely false. The Republican budget of $34 billion is the largest budget in the history of Minnesota, yet it does not raise taxes. Republican leadership has offered to match almost half of the Governor’s budget, yet the Governor refused.

In an article by FrumForum, the Governor was quoted saying Republicans “would prefer to protect the richest handful of Minnesotans at the expense of everyone else.. Instead of taxing their friends, they would prefer very damaging cuts to healthcare, public safety, mass transit” and other state services. What he failed to mention was that taxes will go up for everyone. According to a study by the Department of Revenue, his tax increase will affect all levels of income earners.

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While Minnesota is quickly approaching a July 1^st government shutdown, Governor Mark Dayton refuses to call the Legislators back for a special session. The budget passed by the Legislature not only increases spending to the highest levels Minnesota has ever seen, yet balances the budget without raising taxes. So why did the Governor veto it? He did so because he wanted to add in an extra $1.8 billion in tax increases, which only 8% of Minnesotans want.

The state constitution states no bills can even be considered until the governor calls the Legislature into special session. So the bill written by the House Republicans to continue current funding levels until a deal is made, cannot even be heard. According to recent article by the Examiner, Republicans have been attempting to reach across aisles and work together by offering to match the Governor’s budget on K-12 Education, the courts and public safety. However, if Gov. Dayton isn’t willing to call a special session to pass those bills plus the Transportation Bill, then many jobs will be lost. The reality is that over 20,000 jobs could be kept by just signing the Transportation Bill that works on the dedicated funding.

In an article by the Chanhassen Villager, Senate Tax Committee Chair Julianne Ortman asked, “Why wouldn’t he just agree to our $34 billion budget? It’s the largest state budget we’ve ever had, and it funds all of the state’s essential services. If there’s something critical that we haven’t funded, let’s talk. I think our budget does fund everything that’s critical. I question the governor when he says that he’s really concerned about those folks, but he’s willing to hold them hostage to a tax increase of $1.8 billion. It’s not right.”

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Controversial card check drive by AFSCME and SEIU aims for governor’s executive order

Thousands of licensed Minnesota day care providers may soon become unionized at the stroke of Governor Dayton’s pen via executive order as an increasingly contentious, yet largely unknown, organizing campaign apparently nears an end, according to opponents.

The effort to organize the approximately 12,000 licensed home-based daycare providers goes back at least five years.  The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) appear to be working in different counties throughout the state to form two separate unions:  Child Care Providers Together-AFSCMEand SEIU-Kids First.  The unions have patterned the drive after similar campaigns in other states that targeted providers with clients that receive state childcare subsidies.

The process does not involve a secret ballot or a vote, but rather a controversial method called card check. Organizers go door-to-door to childcare providers on the job asking them to sign cards that give the union collective bargaining rights.  The unions set out to collect signatures of more than half of the available providers or approximately 3,000 signed cards apiece. After the cards are certified, it is believed Governor Dayton will be asked to sign an executive order designating AFSCME and SEIU as collective bargaining units to negotiate with the state. In addition to personal contributions made by influential union leaders, AFSCME and SEIU PACs contributed  $14,000 to Dayton’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

“Just about everybody we have spoken to has said they were not told by signing that card they were supporting a union,” said Jennifer Parrish, a Rochester provider who’s leading opposition to the union. “The main theme seems to be people are being told they can sign up for more information or be put on a mailing list.”

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Over the past month and a half, seven members of Congress–six of whom are members of the Democratic Socialists of America–have written letters to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama on behalf of radical extremists whose homes were raided by the FBI last September.

The raids took place in Chicago and Minnesota, where 23 individuals were targeted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. The individuals are anti-war and international solidarity activists with possible links to funding Hamas and other terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah and the Marxist F.A.R.C. (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

U.S. Representatives and Democratic Socialists of America members; Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), John Conyers (D-MI), Danny Davis (D-IL), Jim McDermott (D-WA), and Keith Ellison (D-MN) have all written letters to either President Obama or Eric Holder regarding the status of the ongoing investigation. Representative David Price (D-NC) has also joined these socialist members of Congress on behalf of the radical extremists.

The letters refer to the anti-war and social-justice activists as “peaceful.” However you can see recent footage of Andy Thayer, one of these so-called “peaceful activists” targeted in the investigation, in the video below. Just this past March, Thayer called for revolution at an anti-war/pro-socialist revolution protest in Chicago. Unfortunately in a time when most Americans struggle to find any adequate representation from their elected members of Congress, these radicals seem to have just the right representatives to turn to.

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Someone on Twitter asked me last night if I’d heard about what was happening in Minnesota with the poor. I didn’t, so they sent me a link to Crooks & Liars that talked about a law proposed there that would make it illegal for poor people to carry more than $20 cash!

(Note : It’s a total lie, but play along with my fake outrage for now.)

Look!!! Here’s some headlines. Wow!!!

Minnesota GOP wants it to be illegal to carry cash if you’re poor

Minn. to Make it a Crime for Poor to Have More Than $20

Incredible!!!

And here’s what the first couple of paragraphs of the Crooks and Liars piece says…

First Susie Madrak writes…

They’re not just crazy, they’re evil — and un-Christian, should they have the audacity to claim otherwise. If only we could force them to live like this, they wouldn’t last a week:

And then quotes an article that says…

St. Paul, MN – Minnesota Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it a crime for people on public assistance to have more $20 in cash in their pockets any given month. This represents a change from their initial proposal, which banned them from having any money at all.

Wow!!! It would be a crime for people on public assistance to have more than $20 in cash in their pockets any given month! A crime!

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Funding from federal stimulus to Exxon leads to banner income in 2009 despite recession

The Minneapolis-based nonprofit Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) has marketed residential energy conservation programs under the slogan, “Save Energy, Save Money!” However, according to tax records on file with the Minnesota Attorney General, helping utility customers save energy and money on their monthly bills also pays off for CEE, one of Minnesota’s biggest energy efficiency nonprofit organizations.

“We’ve been remarkably successful beyond our wildest dreams,” Sheldon Strom, CEE president  told the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota (FFM). “We were struggling for quite awhile and all of a sudden every program we were working on turned to gold. We’re trying to enjoy it while we can.”

Total compensation for the five highest paid CEE employees ranged from a high of $275,323 for the president to $175,003 for the director of indoor air quality. By comparison, the governor of the State of Minnesota gets paid $120,303 and the state’s Commerce Commissioner, who oversees some CEE projects, earns $108,400.

CEE officials said compensation amounts are competitive with going rates and not at odds with the nonprofit’s stated mission to make the most efficient use of both natural and economic resources.

“Our highly compensated staff are exceptional,” Strom said. “We didn’t just make up these numbers. We had a big accounting firm do a salary survey. They’re the ones that said these salaries are in the ballpark.”

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No Commercial Flights, But Airport Still Hoping to Land More Federal Funds

St. Cloud Regional Airport (STC) touts lots of amenities on its website—a café, ATM, free wi-fi, free parking and a $5 million completely renovated terminal whose capacity went up dramatically from 30 to 200 travelers. There’s also a new $750,000 passenger boarding bridge secured with federal stimulus funds to keep travelers out of the elements while catching a flight.  One asset, however, the newly renovated airport notably lacks—commercial flights and passengers.

“We’re here to serve the public and serve them well and have adequate facilities,” Bill Towle, airport director, told the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota. “I would say the airport is a utility and we need adequate facilities to serve the public.”

Currently, an average of about one charter flight a month with 130 or so passengers uses the eerily empty 9,000 square foot glass-fronted facility.  Potential passengers checking the airport’s website are notified there’s “no commercial air service” available. Delta Connection flights between St. Cloud and Minneapolis were grounded at the end of 2009 due to weak customer demand. Both national rental car agencies pulled out of their airport offices months ago.

By then, it was too late. $3.125 million in federal aviation grants from user fees on fuel and tickets, $1.131 million in state airport funds, and $767,000 in local sales taxes were already spent on what’s in danger of becoming a terminal project in more ways than one.

“One thing we did not see is that Delta was going to pull out of here.  That was an absolute shock,” Towle said. ”We might not have done this improvement if we knew they were going to be gone.”

Soon the six Transportation Security Administration (TSA) baggage screeners based in St. Cloud will also depart, along with their high-tech, high-cost equipment. Assigned to other airports in the region for several months, the screeners have been offered jobs elsewhere.

“There’s no commercial flights, so there’s no need for screening,” said Luis Casanova, TSA spokesman.  “We’re pulling our screeners out in November and at some point, the equipment will be moved, too.”

Not so long ago, federal, state, and local transportation planners envisioned the St. Cloud facility as a tier-two “reliever airport” to ease air traffic congestion into Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, setting in motion the $5 million terminal upgrade and other spending for infrastructure improvements.

Officials forecast 25,000 or more commercial passengers would fly through STC in 2010 with a steady increase in traffic in future years, according to the project’s 2006 master plan.  Without Delta, however, about 1,000 passengers have boarded a handful of Sun Country charter flights to a Nevada casino resort this year.

“We got all those numbers approved by the FAA. The likely growth if we continued even as a status quo put us at 26-27,000 enplanements a year,” Towle said.

The controversy refocuses attention on the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program, which some critics say too often results in misplaced priorities and aviation funding. In the last decade, St. Cloud Regional Airport has received more than $24 million in FAA airport improvement grants, including funding for the terminal project, according to OMB Watch, an online database that tracks government spending.  Another national watchdog group indicates the St. Cloud airport received clearance for the terminal expansion despite the project’s low ranking of 35 out of 100 on the FAA’s own priority ratings scale.  The FAA states the rating “is the first evaluation factor and serves to categorize airport development in accordance with agency goals and objectives.”

Meantime, St. Cloud officials have launched an unusual campaign to attract another carrier, approaching local businesses for travel pledges in hopes of demonstrating significant local demand for air travel. With results falling short of the goal so far, the effort may depend on whether the city proves successful in obtaining a more familiar revenue stream–another $500,000 federal grant now under consideration at the FAA.

“Some of the ways we’d use that grant money would be to offset costs from start up of service,” Towle said.  “Additionally, if there’s any losses at the beginning maybe we could help reduce the cost of those losses…and maybe also help with marketing.”

Despite a shortage of commercial flights out of STC, there’s no shortage in requests for federal dollars.  Senator Al Franken’s website lists a $500,000 earmark request for improved runway lighting for the St. Cloud Regional Airport, while Senator Amy Klobuchar’s website lists a $1,000,000 earmark request for the same project.

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This week we are joined by Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and Ricochet legal gurus John Yoo and Richard Epstein on Kagan. We also discuss the large, ever growing, Fed (hence the title), and what we must do to stop it.

We also cover discuss human behavior and parking lot of Target, the psychology of motorcades, and offer some predictions on taxes (guess!). All this and more, free of charge.

Here’s your patented Ricochet Podcast Rundown™:

00:00 – 29:13 Opening Chat
29:15 – 49:55 Tim Pawlenty
51:37 -  1:20:50  Richard Epstein and John Yoo
1:21:00 – End   Closing chat

One of the workingman’s supposed favorite singers, Bruce Springsteen, sang, “Glory days, well they’ll pass you by…”

It seems Big Labor’s glory days have passed them by and that’s fueling their effort to pass state laws, such as in Wisconsin, ordering the teaching of “the history of organized labor in America and the collective bargaining process,” according to the bill recently signed by Gov. Jim Doyle.

More recently, labor groups in Minnesota have produced materials geared toward public schools that will teach the influence of Big Labor in the state.  Reports Workday Minnesota:

To provide more resources for teaching about workers and labor history, the Labor Education Service has released a new video and website devoted to teaching about the Minneapolis truckers’ strikes of 1934. LES also has embarked on a new student-focused project documenting the history of the state Capitol.

Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the United Association for Labor Education have all passed resolutions supporting the expansion of labor-in-the-schools efforts.

One wonders if perhaps, given the fact that American students rank 24^th and 25^th worldwide in math and science test scores (McKinsey Group), schools should instead focus on teaching the basics and preparing American students for a global economy.

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We’re accustomed to strange political phenomena rising out of Minnesota.

We can accept the occasional Jesse Ventura or Al Franken winning statewide office, because the state’s voters obviously like to be different.

But we doubt even the most offbeat citizens of that state would approve of the new K-12 teacher education program that’s been proposed for the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus.

While the rest of the nation is trying to force teachers to help our children reach their potential, the university’s College of Education and Human Development wants to make sure future teachers are more anti-American, so they can share that philosophy with their future students.

We couldn’t even begin to make something like this up.

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