Our state’s governor, Tina Flint Smith (acting through her front, Mark Dayton) line-item-vetoed the funding for the state’s legislature out of existence.
From Blois Olson’s “Morning Take” yesterday:
[Tuesday’s] move by Gov. Mark Dayton to line-item veto the appropriations for the legislature creates a new dynamic that lawyers, legislators, lobbyists and media will try to unwind in the coming days.
And where do we go from here?
There are basically three scenarios. First, legislators and Dayton find some wiggle room and there’s a short special session to tweak teacher licensure, immigration driver’s licenses and tobacco taxes.
I’m gonna guess this is what Lori Sturdevant wants.
Second, GOP majorities go to court, challenge the Governor’s attempt to defund the Legislature.
I suspect this is what the DFL wants. DFLers like Tina Liebling are already leading the media toward where I predicted they’d be by July 1 – blaming this on the GOP:
Should have used his veto pen. Gave in to hostage-takers instead. Paid the ransom & there’s no refund. https://t.co/dYwlVJVh0D
— Tina Liebling (@TinaLiebling) May 31, 2017
And third:
Third, there’s a push from the right on the GOP caucuses to call Dayton on his bluff and declare they won’t meet in 2018 – making Dayton potentially a very lame duck for the last year of his term. That would mean no supplemental budget, no bonding bill and no campaign year gamesmanship – for either side during the session.
On the one hand, the DFL’s noise machine would explode into full deranged mode.
On the other, they’d do the same if a Republican helped a kid across the street. There is literally nothing to lose.
But wait! There’s more!
Republicans are analyzing the line-item veto to see if Dayton did it correctly or if he only took away the specific appropriation to the House and the Senate. If he didn’t veto the entire pool of money, the funds are still in State Government bueget and it would be easy for GOPers to make the case that the money exists. The longer the issue plays out – the advantage is to Republicans. However, should the state have a natural disaster, or an economic issue Dayton would have the executive leadership power to take charge.
I have a hunch we’ll see a proposal to declare Tina Liebling a natural disaster, to allow the Governor to take control.
***For Immediate Release***
Minnesota Republicans are proud we convinced Governor Dayton to substantially reduce spending on one third of state government. We look forward to reducing the taxpayers’ burden by reducing spending in the other branches of government in the future. Meanwhile, since the Governor has defunded the Legislature for this budget biennium, our members will be taking a well-deserved two-year vacation. Constituent concerns should be directed to the Governor’s office.”
Query…Could Trump zero out the funding for Congress? Maybe Trump should follow Gov Dayton’s lead
DFL’s noise machine would explode into full deranged modem.
How many stages of “full deranged” are there? Do you mean going to eleven?
I think that whatever happens with the legality of Dayton’s move, the GOP needs to tell Gov. JimBeam that he gets bupkus for his little boy stunt. Actually, I think that in the special session, they should CUT some things Dayton wants.
The peril of the line item veto.
It’s one of at least two reforms that many conservatives support, but which lead to poor government. The other is term limits.
Line item veto allows executives, even lame duck executives, to control the public purse. Term limits tell the citizen who they can and who they cannot vote for.
They’re going to twelve. They started at 10 in 2010 when the pushback against leftism picked up momentum and have dialed it up into full range insanity with no connection at all to reality since Trump’s election.
I believe that it all depends on the scale of the trouble. As I recall, there is a budget for natural disasters but it’s relatively limited. A big event like the rains of a few years ago would require the legislature to meet to approve funding.
And boy, would it be fun to see how that plays out. Dayton calls a special session, but how can the legislature meet without a budget? That would be a fun exercise in an of itself! Can you imagine the fun a right-leaning lawfare group would have to with the legislature attempting to meet without a budget since they would be spending money that wasn’t authorized? It’s things like this that make me think that Dayton thought up this whole thing on his own — it’s pretty typical of his muddled “thinking.”
There’s another aspect to this – by eliminating funding for the State Legislature, there won’t be any money for the hundreds of government staffers, attorneys, etc. who do all of the leg work to keep the place running which means they’ll be laid off. If the Legislature eventually gets funded, Republicans would be able to fill all of the now vacant jobs with people of their own choosing. Basically the spoils system on steroids.
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