Capitol Watch: Political News from an Insider’s Perspective

June 14 — It’s time to empower the State Auditor to fight waste and fraud

The state’s Legislative Audit office released a damning report yesterday on MDE’s mishandling of the Feeding Our Future scandal. How can we prevent another disaster like this one?

May 21 — Capitol Watch: Strong finish for conservatives

The 2024 Minnesota legislative session came crashing to a close Sunday night at midnight with Republicans in both the House and Senate shouting into their microphones as Democrats shut down debate and rammed through a massive 2,860-page spending and policy bill.

May 12 — Seven under-the-radar polices likely to pass in 2024

The big stuff at the Capitol always garners lots of press, but there are some smaller policy items working their way through conference committees in the final week that Minnesotans should be aware of. Here are seven worth tracking.

May 5 — Arrested development: DFL needs Sen. Mitchell to finish agenda

Things are happening fast at the Minnesota legislature now that we’re down to the final 17 days. Here’s what you should be watching for.

April 28 — Recall may be in order for burglar-senator

With the May 20 adjournment date in sight, it looked like the 2024 legislative session was going to end on time, on budget and with very little drama. But this is Minnesota, so instead we have news of a DFL state senator traveling 217 miles to burglarize the home of her stepmother. Let the circus begin!

April 21 — Walz lied to you about election bills

There used to be a longstanding tradition of election policy bills requiring bipartisan support in order to pass. Then everything changed and we are left with two partisan election bills in a row.

April 14 — Ray of hope on 2024 session spending

Each November Gov. Walz preaches fiscal restraint. And each May when the legislative session ends, he signs budget bills that spend all of the available money. There’s hope this year things could end differently.

April 7 — Senate DFL removes school comparisons, delays test score release

Are all the children in Lake Wobegon still above average? If Democrats in the legislature have their way, we’ll never know.

March 24 — Year-round legislature?

They built themselves a palace, so they might as well work year-round…

March 17 — Green regulations drive up the cost of state borrowing

Did you know that the cost of every building/renovation project funded with state borrowing is artificially inflated to comply with progressive environmental regulations?

March 10 — 5 random things from the capitol last week

The state is on track to spend $1.4 billion more in the 2026-27 budget than it will take in. Right now there’s enough of a surplus in the bank to cover that, but if the legislature spends too much in 2024, the next budget will be out of balance.

March 3 — Walz pettiness over budget surplus

The state budget survived the 2023 legislative session and is still delivering more money than even Gov. Walz can spend, at least in the short term. Walz briefly celebrated his victory, but as soon as the press asked the first question, Walz reverted to his most comfortable activity: attacking Republicans.

February 25 — Misguided election bill heard in House

House Democrats heard a bill this week to address what they think is a disturbing trend in Minnesota: people actually paying attention to local school board elections. Life was better for them when voters didn’t care who was on the school board.

February 18 — Liberals have second thoughts on SRO fix

After two hearings in the House this week, it looks like liberal House members are not on board with the proposed fix to the School Resource Officer issue, as the legislation has officially stalled.

February 11 — Consider yourself warned, session begins today

With the Democrats still firmly in control of the levers of power for at least one more session, Minnesota taxpayers are left to hope they’ll go easy on them after the 2023 session. But hope is not a strategy, so here are the top issues where Minnesotans should look to make a difference during the 2024 session.

January 26 — Capitol Watch: Time to end welfare for political campaigns in MN

Are you one of those people who check the box every year on your taxes to designate $5 to the political party of your choice, only to wonder how that money gets distributed?

December 7 — Capitol Watch: They went off the cliff with the state budget

No one should be surprised about the impending state budget deficit.