|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Friday, August 05, 2011 5:42 PM
This is a piece authored by Charley Shaw of the St. Paul Legal Ledger/Capitol Report. He graciously included my analysis in the piece. You may access it byclicking here, or, if you are not registered to access full pieces on the Politics in Minnesota Website, you may simply scroll down.____________________________________________ If you hear political activists calling for change in the 2012 state House and Senate elections, you won’t be faulted for thinking that the rhetoric must be coming from DFLers. |
Minnesota Budget, Minnesota Legislature, Good Legislators, Sue Jeffers, Bad Legislators, Liberal Republicans, Taxes, Kurt Zellers, Michele Bachmann, Michael Brodkorb, State of the GOP, Minnesota Republican Party, John Kriesel, Jim Abeler, Pat Garofalo, Tea Party, Mitch Berg, Politics in Minnesota
|
|
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Saturday, July 30, 2011 1:09 PM
The 22-person list of congressional memberswho voted againstSpeaker Boehner's budget legislation deserve to be thanked. (Two of them were from my own state of Minnesota: Michele Bachmann and Chip Cravaack. South Carolina had us beat, though, as all five of their Republicans opposed the legislation.) I would not have necessarily voted against his final product, which included a balanced budget amendment. However, if those 22 members believe that Republicans could get a better end result by proposing an even better package, I am happy to stand behind them. |
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Friday, July 22, 2011 10:42 AM
From an unfiltered political perspective, the $35.7 billion budget signed by Governor Dayton on Wednesday served a purpose desired urgently by both Republicans and Democrats to claim some sort of victory. That appeared to be the most admirable quality of the legislation for both sides. Yet what is notable is that only Republicans are touting the legislation around, calling it a "victory." The Minnesota GOP went so far as to issue a press release on Thursday titled, "Republican Party of Minnesota Hails Budget as a Victory for the MNGOP and the People of Minnesota. |
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 1:53 PM
This is a fun story about young people getting involved in politics, and the problems that the established order has in dealing with them. That shift becomes more marked and more rapid as we see the old political batons being passed from one generation to the next.______________________________________________________________ Sarah Andersonis peculiar. For one thing, she's a Republican. At 22, that makes her a statistical anomaly, even in El Paso County. She spent her formative years reading a series of books that explain the free-market theory to teens. |
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Friday, June 10, 2011 6:28 PM
The following is an article by Briana Bierschbach with Politics in Minnesota. You canclick here to read iton PIM's Website if you have a subscription, or scroll down if you do not. It provides a good who's who of which Republicans are most likely to vote with the Democrats in raising taxes during the upcoming special session. House Republican commitee chairsJim AbelerandRod Hamiltonare rightly pointed out as being the most likely to break. They both voted to override Tim Pawlenty's veto in 2008 of the transportation budget; they are also the only two of those six Republicans who were not thrown out of office that year as a result. |
Minnesota Budget, Minnesota Legislature, Bad Legislators, Liberal Republicans, Michael Brodkorb, Minnesota Republican Party, John Kriesel, Mark Dayton, Jim Abeler, Pat Garofalo, Rod Hamilton
|
|
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2011 3:46 PM
Terry McCall, a friend with whom I would almost always agree, wrote an eloquent commentary that appears in the Red Wing Republican Eagle. Terry sits on the board of the Republican Liberty Caucus with me and is the chairman of Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District Republicans. You mayclick here to view in the newspaperor scroll down here._______________________________________________ Don’t be intimidated, stick to principles I am one of those people who try to live my personal life by a set of principles — principles that infuse my political beliefs. |
Minnesota Budget, Minnesota Legislature, Good Legislators, Bad Legislators, Liberal Republicans, Taxes, State of the GOP, Minnesota Republican Party, Mark Dayton, Republican Liberty Caucus, Terry McCall
|
|
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2011 11:44 AM
In order to decrease the gap between budget proposals from the GOP and Governor Dayton, the GOP agreed to raise spending on education and the courts by another $110 million. However, the governor still wants the GOP to raise spending by another $1.7 billion.Unfortunately, the GOP's choice for legislative leadership right now is not very adept at dealing with the media, and they are too fearful of losing their political positions to be effective. They are virtually guaranteed to raise spending by the full $1. |
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Monday, May 09, 2011 12:58 PM
In 1979, Americans held a bleak view of the presidency, formed and characterized by two preceding decades of interaction with their chief executive. Those two decades were two of the most negative for the nation's executive branch in its history.
In the 20th century, only five presidential incumbents would lose election to second terms. Two of those losses took place consecutively, in 1976 and 1980. (Many presidents have the good sense to leave before they are forced to leave.) In both of those years, incumbent presidents faced the unusual spectacle of credible challengers within their own parties. |
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 6:04 PM
P olitics in Minnesota's Charley Shaw did an article recapping the RNC race between Tom Emmer & Jeff Johnson that quoted me very briefly. Text of the article is below. (Otherwise view it on Politics in Minnesota byclicking here.) _____________________________________________________________ When Republicans from around the state flocked to the Ramada Mall of America last Saturday, there appeared to be little question who would win the race to replace Brian Sullivan as Minnesota’s man on the Republican National Committee. |
|
|
Rudy Takala: Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 2:42 PM
Seven Republicans in the state legislature arespearheading a $500 million proposal that Minnesota taxpayers finance a new stadium for the Vikings. The chief authors of the legislation are Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, and Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead.It is notable that this is a solely Republican idea. Democrats have not had a hand in it thus far. |
|