Operation - I Saw Dean & Bud Dine With Maggie - ??? Tax Increases On The Menu????
Posted by Andy on February 18th, 2008
I followed at tip this evening down to Monte Carlo in downtown Minneapolis. I was told that Republican Reps. Bud Heidgerken (R) 13A & Dean Urdahl (R) 18B had dinner date with Democrat Speaker of the House Margaret Kelliher. I had earlier hinted at some detective work for the evening over at True North and low and behold, my source was correct. There was a 3rd man who was there who I think I recognized as a possible legislator, but I am not sure, it could have been an aid, although he arrived between Urdahl & Heidgerken and when Kelliher got there.
Dinner at 7:30PM ….. well truth be told, Kelliher was a little behind time and arrived at 7:44, the boys were early.
Monte Carlo is a rather fancy establishment and the meeting was in one of the private rooms in the rear of the restaurant out of sight. My girlfriend came along on the outing. We had a meal and desert. Our tab with tip was just over $100 with 2 drinks per. No doubt the combined per diems for Bud, Dean, and Maggie were more than enough to cover their cost.
While we were waiting for them to arrive, I got an email from someone at the Capital.
Andy -
Not sure who gave you your info, but here is some more accurate people to list on who is thinkin of overriding the Governor.1) Remove Abeler. He isn’t doing it. You can call his office and find out.
2) Add the following people to your list. Again, if you call/email any of them and ask, I believe each refuses to sign the veto pledge.
- Neil Peterson
- Pat Garafalo
- Larry Howes
- Mike Beard
- Dennis OzmentCall /email anyone of them and they should confirm this unless they’ve changed their mind.
I can do one better on calling and asking if they have signed it, and let my readers know that as of 5 PM only 5 of the 49 Republicans have signed the Veto Protection Pledge and there was reported (to me) to be no Caucus pressure to do so. Also in regards to Abler, the person close to him I spoke with earlier was unable to confirm if they would support the override if the Metro Wide sales tax was removed, which was his main sticking point of initial support.
Right now, we have 2 lists of 5 that are “squishy” at best on the transportation bill and sustaining the veto, and since we only need 5 to abandon us for the hundreds of millions in tax increases to pass, I’d say conservatives have their work cut out for them. We need to get on the horn and melt the switchboard.
If we do not keep the pressure on all 49 Republicans to sustain the veto, there is little doubt 5 of them will sell us out for the massive tax increases.
Neil W. Peterson (R) 41B
(651) 296-7803
rep.neil.peterson@house.mn
Pat Garofalo (R) 36B
(651) 296-1069
rep.pat.garofalo@house.mn
Larry Howes (R) 04B
(651) 296-2451
rep.larry.howes@house.mn
Michael Beard (R) 35A
(651) 296-8872
rep.mike.beard@house.mn
Dennis Ozment (R) 37B
(651) 296-4306
rep.dennis.ozment@house.mn
And here was the list from before that I posted on True North.
Jim Abeler (R) 48B
rep.jim.abeler@house.mn
(651) 296-1729
Ron Erhardt (R) 41A
rep.ron.erhardt@house.mn
(651) 296-4363
Rod Hamilton (R) 22B
rep.rod.hamilton@house.mn
(651) 296-5373
Bud Heidgerken (R) 13A
rep.bud.heidgerken@house.mn
(651) 296-4317
Kathy Tingelstad (R) 49B
rep.kathy.tingelstad@house.mn
(651) 296-5369
Dean Urdahl (R) 18B
rep.dean.urdahl@house.mn
(651) 296-4344
Frankly I don’t think we conservatives can afford to hope our Republicans hold the line on the Veto Override. We need to send an email or call every Republican down there and guarantee it. The Senate version of the transportation bill is nasty and includes some new provisions like a possible State-wide Sales Tax increase which would be devastating for our state. I’m worried we may have some squishy Republicans in the House who won’t be able to help themselves.
We can’t rely simply on the Guv’s Vetoes. We need to make sure they are upheld now. I’d tell you to call the Senators too, but frankly it would be a waste since the Democrats can override the vote on a simple partyline vote. Your efforts will be better spent calling the 49 Republicans in the House.
If you have a Republican Representative, great! Call them and remind them our platform opposes tax increases and so do you! If you don’t pick one of the them closest to you and call them, whether I have listed them above or not. Call them all! Call them a lot. We have the chance to flip votes before the bills first passage on Thursday, and that will send a message to Kelliher and the Democrats that the Republicans are not rollovers.
We need to draw the line in the sand. No tax increases. There is plenty of money in the state budget. As I told a former Representative this afternoon who was talking about our Transportation funding woes, “didn’t we have a $2.2 billion dollar surplus last year? And how much of that was spent on transportation?”
If there is such a transportation crisis that has been going on for decades, why in the world wasn’t it addressed with the surplus last year? They wasted all that money before they even got to transportation. We can’t afford to pay fort their mistakes.
Vote no then sustain the veto!
Conservative Republicans, you need to call your Minnesota House Representatives!
Here’s the list of all of them!
I am doing this because conservative activism is not something that can be done through backroom deals or hope and faith. We must let Republicans know that we are paying attention. We must let them know they need to sustain the veto. If this bill passes, there will be no spinning it into a win.
Its in your hands now.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:46 am
Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. The caucus didn’t lose anyone on the second override on a $5.5 billion increase but they’re lining up to override Pawlenty’s veto of an $8.4 billion increase in an election year?
This is a bunch of Chicken Little The Sky is Falling BS. Yes, call & email legislators but don’t get all paranoid about this.
PS- I wouldn’t trust that email you got during dinner.
PSS- The DFL isn’t even certain that they can hold their caucus together.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Gary,
If you aren’t worried enough to pick up the phone and make sure they will hold together after finding out 2 (R)s had a fancy dinner with the DFL Speaker during the session, er, on the eve’s eve of the vote on the Transportation bill, you need to stop drinking the koolaid.
I’m guessing, but I bet that Kelliher could have had dinner with lots and lots of people last night, but she chose to have it with 2 ’squishy’ (R)s. Could she have been finding out just what the bill had to have in order to pass and get their override vote?
Oh and don’t forget, the Senate version already has the outstate sales tax, so I am willing to bet that will keep the outstate DFLers from crossing lines.
Pick up the phone and call someone out of leadership Gary. This is more serious and Marty needs our help.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Andy,
I have the luxury of talking to one of the reps on your second list regularly and believe me Mike Beard is NOT going to flake off. He has been very upfront in saying that he supports a 5 cent a gallon increase in the GAS TAX only since that is dedicated to roads. Everything else in that pig of a bill is, however, OUT OF THE QUESTION!
LL
February 19th, 2008 at 8:40 am
The 5 to 8.5 cent gas tax is not dedicated to roads exclusively.
The DFL is trying to see how far they can go with this bill before the pass it. They are gauging the squishies to see just how much they will tolerate.
You say your guy is good. I say let’s give him and ALL the rest of the (R)s a few more phone calls to make them better.
Conservatives have been a bit lax in the activism of lte. And look where it has gotten us. Record Government spending, and still they want to raise taxes to do what their primary role and responsibility is.
Call your legislators!
February 19th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Andy, Pay attention. Here’s what I said in my comment:
Notice that I’m fine with people calling their legislator. The thing is, I’ve done my legwork ahead of time. I know exactly where my representative is at on this.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Andy - I DID call my legislator! I told you what I heard from him.
Let me repeat……Mike Beard will not vote to over-ride the Governor’s veto. I spoke with him again this morning and he re-iterated that. He also said that there is little to based the rest of the speculation on….except Erhardt because he is gonna do what ever he wants and if he wants to spite the party well so be it.
A better tactic would be to go after the Dems who know that voting for this pig of a bill will be electoral disaster - and there are more than a few of them from what I am hearing. Flake them off instead!
LL
February 19th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Frankly I want to have DFlers vote for this so (R)s can knock them off. What we need is 49 Republicans to vote against the bill and then vote to sustain teh veto.
I am sorry you both are so upset that I would dare to question the intentions of your Republicans, but read the post above again. I do tell people to call ALL of them. I am sorry I didn’t waste bandwidth to reproduce the entire list, but I did link to it and also the District Finder. And there are enough (R)s on the ledge that it could be trouble.
My goal in life is not to get a DFLer to vote like I want them to. It is to get (R)s to do so.
Good for both of you. I hope they were among the 5 to sign the Veto Protection Pledge. When they are willing to take a public stand against this bill like that, others will join in. This can’t be a backroom or private phone call operation if we are going to buck the liberal trend in Minnesota. There is not enough time or energy to call one million people and explain the point of conservatism to voters so they make the right choice in November.
We need loud and public conservative voices fighting back.
And as for the paranoid comment Gary,
If $8.4 billion in new taxes doesn’t scare the crap out of you, well……. just what the heck does.
I hope to gOD I am wrong and that all 49 (R)s are going to sustain the veto. I am just not comfortable with the idea of sitting back and hoping people are doing what you’re doing and not doing anything themselves.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I may have missed something so can someone tell me where the Republicans plan to get the money we need to fix the roads and bridges and also expand our system to meet the current needs?
February 19th, 2008 at 10:42 am
And what is wrong with having (R)s get some conservative reinforcement and encouragement?
Or are we all now in the don’t make waves, let’s just pray the DFL muffs up again and teh media reports it.
For crying out loud you two, 2 squishy (R)s had dinner with the DFL leader last night at 7:30PM during the session at a fancy place in Minneapolis.
That is NOT a good thing.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:58 am
PS- I even knew that Dean Urdahl had gotten the invitation. My adopted representative even kidded Urdahl about this in his press release, saying “I hope they at least get a good steak out of the deal.” He knew that Urdahl wasn’t flipping from a direct conversation he had.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Unsubstantiated rumors of the $8.4 billion tax increase getting overriden doesn’t even raise my blood pressure a point. If I got worried about every unsubstantiated rumor, I’d be a wreck. Rather than doing that, I prefer to stay calm, do my research, then react if necessary. You might want to try it sometime. It’s served me well thus far.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:13 am
You’re right Gary, all the conservative activists should just go back to their couches and trust that you have it all taken care of. That 5 (R)s with a squishy past won’t jump ship this time. That the fact I have legislative aids sending me people to worry about.
I’m sorry if my idea of activism doesn’t mess well with the inner circle, but frankly what has the inner circle done for the State Budget lately?
It grew some 10% last year and not nary a dime was sent towards transportation. This Transit bill is ugly and it does have a chance.
You should be worried gary. I know your friends are telling you to calm down and try to convince my readers I am nuts and a crack pot, but we do need to be worried. This bill is going to pass, and then they are going to run all the squishies through the media wringer until they cave and then call the vote at the end. That dinner last night was a perfect example where the (R)s should have been having dinner united, but instead 2 or 3 of them wandered off and had dinner with the enemy.
I personally would like to avoid them getting more calls from people saying don’t do it, don’t raise taxes, than from tax and spenders saying to override and spend away to the transit unions and alliance’s content.
It is activism. More people should try it.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Most of the rep appreciate a calm reasonable call instead of speculation and fear.
Call you rep, ask them nicely how they are going to vote on this.
If they say they will uphold the veto, and ask them if there is anything that will cause them to change there vote. If all is good, thank them and then write a letter to your local paper expressing you gratitude for their support.
If they say no, ask them if there is anything that will change their vote.
If all remain bad, thank them for there service and the go find a candidate to replace them.
BPOU conventions are coming up. Now - Today - Is the time to find a candidate and start working those delegate lists. Maybe a nice smack down at the BPOU convention might make some difference.
Don’t wait until the convention starts to talk to people.
Also, find out what CD these RINO belong to and at that convention, if that BPOU wants to continue to support these RINOs, then make sure no one from there gets elected a delegate to national. Offer motions to publicly reprimand that BPOU and their rep. It is their right to pick whoever they want to represent them, and it is the right of the CD to let them know that their choice is bad.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[...] but I couldn’t resist. Check out what everyone’s favorite GOP Senate District Chair has been up to lately: I followed at tip this evening down to Monte Carlo in downtown Minneapolis. I was told that [...]