Got this one overnight.

I wish you would comment on the 9 Republican Senators that voted for the bonding bill.

For those that didn’t know, the Minnesota Senate Democrats passed a Billion Dollar Bonding Bill yesterday, oops, I should say the Senate Democrats and 9 Republicans voted for their pet project and fiscal irresponsibility bill yesterday.

Now the Republican Party does appear to have some new life, and by new life I mean showing signs of at least NOT going down swinging.

Point 1) It appears that we now have someone in the state party structure who may know of private Senate phone numbers to the Senate floor, which of course will be used against us in the future, but it was a nice touch. The age old practice of the party not getting involved in Legislation finally seems to have been laid to rest. It is a cautionary hope though that this didn’t break any rules, or inspire the Democrats who own the Senate Rules and gavel to inflict maximum pain on our slim minority out of vengeance. But again, it was a nice try.

Point 2) Another sign of life in the party, they didn’t just sit back and let this terrible Bonding Bill fly though the ethos without nary a postmortem comment. And even more impressively, they didn’t let the fact that 9 moron Republicans ended up voting for the waste, fraud, and abusive credit line spending stop them from trying to hold Democrats accountable to their own bad ideas. Rather then let the Democrats OWN the Bonding Bill, 9 Republicans just had to make sure they could…. well, dare I say, avoid having someone send out a lit piece saying they voted agains project such and such?

I’m sure the notion of the party sending out a sternly worded press release going after Democrats when Republicans were on the wrong side didn’t sit well with the Senate Caucus, but hey, the Party doesn’t work for them. The Party release is a little too Pawlenty focused for my taste, but hey, that’s me. Maybe the party’s new Chair is really going to put a little bit of the grassroots’ water in that bucket he is carrying up the 2010 hill too.

So good news on the party front there. And I feel coming from me a tip of the hat to the actual state party on this may mean something. Signs of progress.

Now as for the 9 Republican Senators who apparently think those checks your credit card company send you are free money that you are required to spend, well, that is a bad sign for the Senate Caucus.

Republican Senators Steve Dille, Dennis Frederickson, Joe Gimse, Bill Ingebrigtson, Michael Jungbauer, Paul Koering, Gen Olson, Pat Pariseau and Dave Senjem all voted for the bill. (same link as above)

I am using that as a basis for who the 9 were because as of 7 AM this morning, the official roll call or Senate Journal was not displaying the full list of names in the 52 to 14 vote.

Leadership seems rudderless there again and it is going to be another troublesome Session if they don’t stand firm and separate themselves from the dreadful agenda of the Democrats. More problematic is that the Republican Party and conservative/Tea Party movement is running against wasteful spending. Throw the bums out seems to be in order, unlike in the House where the Republicans, at least most of late, have displayed how they are different.

The House learned this lesson already with the Veto Override and the 2008 endorsement process. Republicans were held accountable by the grassroots and those who were using the (R) behind their name ended up facing the wrath of principled conservative Delegates and some even lost their seat at the table of unlimited power and career politicians.

The Senate in Minnesota is by design, an unaccountable body. Unlike the House which is up every single even year election, the Senate is only up every 4 years. And unlike the US Senate where they serve 6 years terms and a portion is up every major election, the Minnesota Senate can mail it in when the public is watching and use their non-election Sessions to bring home the bacon and expand Government beyond its Constitutional authority.

I have said it before that I want to see Sen. David Hann from Eden Prairie drop out of the Governor’s race and become Senate Republican Leader. Senjem is just not cutting it. Far better then Dick Lobbyist Day was, but not making the grade from my point of view. The idea that 9 Republicans decided to vote for this bill means that Senjem has no control, and the fact that Senjem voted for it himself means he has neither the fortitude nor wisdom to lead the Republican Caucus to the 2010 goal of shaving the Majority gap the Democrats hold.

One of the reasons I am so against Marty Seifert’s candidacy for Governor is that he was not a strong leader of the House Caucus until he heat was on. Now sure, Minnesota Representatives, especially Republicans, are not used to having the public actually watch what they are doing and become engaged activists. (note: the Party used to not engage on Legislation, which I touched on above) The Senate Caucus used to hold the party and grassroots at arms length and decide what really mattered and “voted their conscience”. We had 3 parties with 3 different platforms and agendas in the past. The Senate Republicans clearly haven’t gotten the memo.

On day 3 of the 2010 Session, the Senate Republicans are in disarray on the major focus of this entire session. They have either drank the DFL’s vote for it or else koolaid, or still don’t give a rip about the grassroots or broader agenda (read platform) of the party base. And more disturbing is that with the entire nation growing more and more angry with the out of control deficit and debt spending in Washington, why the Republican Caucus in Minnesota didn’t want to stand clearly at odds with the DFLers on this center piece example of out of wasteful pet project pork spending of money that you don’t have is beyond calculation. And exactly how can the Senate Republican Caucus be taken seriously on spending and budget balancing maneuvers that lie ahead when they aren’t even in agreement with what wasteful spending looks like and as “laid on the table in this Bonding Bill”.

But here’s where we all come in. BPOU (or Legislative District) Conventions are upon us for the next few weeks. Mine is this Saturday. I’m in a new District and getting to know my elective Representative and Senator.

Now luckily, I have both a Republican Senator and Representative, but unfortunately, my Senator seems like a dud. Now as noted above, it appears my Senator did not vote for the Bonding Bill, but my very brief interaction of Sen. Johnson (49) on Caucus night left me wondering if I had a Senator with Senatitus on my hands. I had heard that she was simply mailing it in or using the Republican Party to get elected and had no real connection with the grassroots. And well, she didn’t disappoint on helping me figure that out Caucus night.

Arrogant, disconnected, and self serving are the words that came to mind after her very brief few words. No prepared speech, no points on Legislation or the Senate GOP goals for the session, just a basic ‘Hi I’m your Senator, goodbye’. Um, take us for granted much?

So what can we learned from this HUGE vote by the Senate Republicans on Day 3?

They need to be held accountable, all of them. I got a call from a person looking to challenge Sen. Johnson last night, and I hope that all across the State, Senate Republicans are all going to face challenges, so that they have to earn the right, and more importantly show respect to the base. I know that in fighting and wasting time on seats we already hold is counter intuitive to strategists and staffers, but we clearly have a group of politicians who have not woken up the the entire notion them working for us. We will fight against anyone standing on the wrong side of the responsible limited Government line, ANYONE.

As we all (hopefully) participate in our BPOU endorsing conventions, we must make these Senators explain what they will be doing.

• Will they be going along to get along with the Democrats?
• Or will they be standing strong against their wasteful and power lustful ways?
• Will they go ahead and vote for bills to expand government even further and take more of our money, rights, and freedoms away?
• Or will they bravely stand up and vote against them in order to show the Minnesota public that there is another way?

That Minnesota doesn’t have to have Progressive Democrats hell bent on bringing socialism/Marxism home one baby step at a time, running the Senate and state Government.

My advice to anyone out there who is upset about not only this bonding bill actually passing, but that these 9 Republican Senators voted against responsible limited government by voting for this waste, fraud, and abusive credit line spending bill is to either vote against the motion to endorse or vote for a new guy or gal challenging the incumbents. Make them work for their 2010 endorsement, I don’t care how long they have been in office. If they have a challenger, and that person would make better votes and has a pulse, by all means don’t be afraid to stand up and support them. Because if the true purpose of this party is to get good conservative Republicans elected, even a defeated incumbent would surely help out someone who is more willing to represent the party’s shared and stated goals. Or so one would hope that career politicians would act like Ron Erhart.

I myself think I may makes some waves in my new District by supporting Sen. Johnson’s opponent for endorsement.

Look, we need to send these Republican Senators a lesson early or we will have an entire Session where they are voting like drunken Democrats.