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Today’s Daily Reformer. Democrats: Be very afraid
Good morning. Sign up for your daily dose here. Democrats: It’s time. All of your submerged anxieties are entirely reasonable, and you can scream into the pillow and no one will think you’re crazy. “What a (expletive) clown show,” a DFL operative texted me last night. “I’m very worried about this election,” a prominent Democrat […]
Daily Reformer: Carnahappenings.
Good morning. Labor unrest in the Twin Cities, with SEIU strike votes coming for both 1,800 medical workers at HealthPartners, as Max Nesterak informed you last week. Results announced Friday at 10. Another 8,000 janitor and security officers of SEIU Local 26 could announce a strike Saturday. Reformer politics reporter Ricardo Lopez went to a […]
Daily Reformer: Campaign finance reports: top fundraisers and big spenders
Good morning. Headline in local media outlet last night: Amy Klobuchar gets a boost from likely fifth place finish in Iowa Nope, that’s not a thing. (Good on whoever changed it.) Today on the Reformer: Max Nesterak on a couple Dems’ plans to give everyone who needs one a rental voucher, with an assist from […]
Daily Reformer: AFSCME troubles; caucus troubles, $$ for childcare
Good morning. This morning on the Reformer: A Reformer scoop: Weeks before the leadership shakeup at AFSCME Council 5 last summer and fall, a letter landed in the inbox of the union’s board describing “rampant” sexism, as well as a “racist” and “retaliatory” culture, Ricardo Lopez reports. Executive Director John Westmoreland was placed on investigatory […]
Daily Reformer: Super Bowl of Minnesota politics — Iowa and Senate DFL shakeup
Good morning! Today on the Reformer: Sen. Tom Bakk is overthrown by the DFL caucus and Sen. Susan Kent, who ascends to leader just days before the Legislature reconvenes, and Aaron Brown gives the Range and labor backstory Allison Winter reports that Washington is taking some steps on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous […]
Daily Reformer: Frey task force on off-duty police; Bakk-inations; Walz $$$; thoughts on Rogan
Good morning! (Are you receiving our Daily Reformer email newsletter? You should! Sign up here.) Apologies for no Daily Reformer on Thursday; it was like that episode of Family Ties when Alex P. Keaton is on speed and he’s like superman but then he crashes, except I promise mom it wasn’t speed it was just […]
The dangerous path from no refugee resettlement to something much darker
The recent decision by Beltrami County to no longer accept new refugee resettlement there was in some ways meaningless. Refugees have not been placed there in at least five years. Their ruling only affects efforts by groups like Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Service to resettle refugees, but does not prevent refugees from moving to […]
Daily Reformer: Walz on a boat
Good morning. Sailing takes me away…. Today at the Reformer: There’s been very little attention on the ACA lawsuit that could take down the decade-old law, which would have huge ramifications here in Minnesota. Rilyn Eischens gives us some of the basics on the litigation and what would happen here in Minnesota if the plaintiff […]
Republicans begin push for voter ID law even after voters rejected it in 2012
Minnesota Senate Republicans, defending a narrow 35-32 majority in the November election, signaled a major push for a new voter ID law in the upcoming legislative session that begins Feb. 11. Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, a Nisswa Republican, released a video on social media channels Friday saying the caucus will advocate hard for a law […]
Daily Reformer: immigration, people and manure.
Good morning. Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. This morning at the Reformer I came out of reporting retirement to write a little piece about the Senate Republican push to pass a voter ID law in the upcoming legislative session, even though Minnesota rejected just such a measure in 2012, by 110,000 votes. Also this morning, […]
Daily Reformer: Lewis and his no lose campaign
Good morning! A programming note: I’m in Washington for meetings and will have no Daily Reformer on Friday. This morning at the Reformer, Rilyn Eischens tallied up the 2018 CEO and worker pay at Minnesota’s Fortune 500s and determined CEOs make 278 times the pay of the average worker. The data is all there in […]
Coolican: Amy Klobuchar and the scourge of the bullying boss
Sen. Amy Klobuchar shared the endorsement of The New York Times with Sen. Elizabeth Warren this week, one of several events indicating a wisp of momentum for our senior senator. Her legendary work ethic — which has taken her to all 99 Iowa counties in a replay of her approach here in Minnesota — seems […]