A post mortem of the legislature

I was invited to a presentation last week, with the above topic.

Of course, none could have been preformed. Still, was interesting especially since, to tell the truth, I don't follow this body that close.

For example, I was not aware that a federal judge ordered to clean the issue of sex offenders. I know I am not using the correct terms. Seems that they are forever in jail and no one would release them. Thus, if the state does not resolve it, a federal judge would come again and it would cost the state a bunch. Enough to wipe the so-called surplus.

About that surplus and, it seems that sometime - during Pawlenty rule ? - it was decided to include inflation only in debt projection, but not in revenue. Thus, if we just take last year budget and do adjust for inflation, there goes the one billion of the two billion surplus.

And once you add 15 or 25% adjustment, and funds for unforseen event - bird flu this year, I suppose - and the cost of fixing the sex offender problem, there is no surplus. His suggestion, withe which I agree, is not to spend the surplus but to put it aside.

He said that the current situation reminded him of the Ventura time, when we had a three party system. Now we have Dayton whose horizon, if at all, is four years. (He many not run again). And then we have the Democratic senate and Republican house with two years horizon.

He said that the one thing that the legislature had to do was to come with a bi-annual budget, and it failed. He did add, though, of easing circumstances. Many members of the house started their jobs in January. Dayton brought his budget - and I am not sure here - January or, perhaps February. Then there all the addition and adjustments and they got the budget proposal in Mid March. And now they had perhaps 10 weeks to work on a budget when so many of them were new on the job.

He suggested that since the budget process in bi-annual, that it should be done on an even year - an election year. This way the house members have already been in their jobs for a year, at least, and, once they pass the budget they are up for re-election and will have to defend their votes.

He then added that he knew that Democrats would lose the House. They had a perfect winning strategy.. for Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The days of the Farmer Labor ties of Hubert Humphrey are gone, he said. Of the 87 counties, Dayton won only 37 (again, not sure of the number but less than half). Minnesota is like the rest of the country, where rural votes is conservative.

Sorry about not being too clear. I did not take notes, preferred to just listen. But I found the presentation interesting.