Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Pam Wolf represents Fridley and is on the Local Government and Elections Committee.
Updated (3 p.m. Wednesday): The state Senate committee holding the first legislative hearing this year into a Minnesota Vikings stadium bill recessed just before 3 p.m. Wednesday without taking a vote on the proposed bill as scheduled. "More work to do," said committee chair Sen. Ray Vandeveer (R-Stillwater). Update (2:45 p.m. Wednesday): One of Wolf's questions was about relying on revenues from electronic pulltab gaming to cover the state's financial obligation: "If not enough people gamble, what is the backup plan?" The answer, from stadium bill author Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont), is an automatic, "blink-on" user fee, such as a scratch-off game or sports-memorabilia tax. The committee hearing is now in overtime—past the scheduled 2:45 p.m…
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Fridley's two state senators are on joint committee hearing testimony Tuesday.
- GOVERNMENT
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Update (4:30 p.m.): State Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) asked testifiers at the meeting whether employees of a proposed state-owned casino would be state employees (they wouldn't) and whether the White Earth Band had taken their new-casino plan to Arden Hills officials yet (they hadn't). Update (2 p.m.): State Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) quizzed Minnesota Vikings Chief Financial Officer Steve Poppen about what she said "looks like an expensive stadium. (See a video clip and transcript of the exchange here.) "Have you put together any other models for the stadium?" she asked. Poppen said the proposed stadium design dates from 2008 and is based on Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis. He called it "a very modest stadium." Original post: Fridley's two…
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Many votes were party-line but there was some variation.
Here is how four of the five legislators who represent parts of Fridley voted on the dozen budget bills passed during the July 19-20 special session. Fridley's legislators are: Senators Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) and Pam Wolf (R-51), and Representatives Carolyn Laine (DFL-50A), Kate Knuth (DFL-50B) and Tom Tillberry (DFL-51B). Tillberry's vote is not recorded in the House's unofficial tallies from the special session. He wasn't immediately available for comment Wednesday, but the House Journal lists him as one of six representatives whose absences were officially excused. Gov. Mark Dayton signed all into law Wednesday morning, officially ending the 20-day shutdown of state government. Special Session Budget Bills Senate Judiciary/Public Safety …
Thursday, June 16, 2011
The written apology is part of deal to drop ethics complaint.
A letter from Minnesota Sen. Gretchen Hoffman to Sen. Barb Goodwin apologizes for a May 18 tweet that took Goodwin's floor-speech remarks about the mentally ill out of context. It's part of what a Senate subcommittee asked Hoffman to do in exchange for dismissal of an ethics complaint against her. (via Minnesota Public Radio) Update (7:45 p.m.): Goodwin sounded less than satisfied in an email Thursday evening: Senator Hoffman still has (or has recently put) the same blatant lie on her campaign website. Plus, as you know, she closed her past twitter account - the one she was supposed to issue the apology or a link to the results of the ethics committee. She added: "I really hope it's over soon." Update (9:45 a.m., Friday): Here is Hoffman's…
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Senator says budget impasse doesn't bode well.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, June 12, 2011
Editor's Note: Fridley Patch invited each member of Fridley's legislative delegation to comment on the end of the regular session. This response from state Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) arrived Friday. With nearly a $6 billion shortfall at the beginning of the 2011 legislative session, everyone knew it would be a painful and difficult time. We faced some of the toughest budget decisions we've ever had to make as a state. Once again, the voters gave us a divided government—a Democrat for Governor this time but Republican House and Senate leadership—both with very different philosophies about how to solve the budget. Yet, with hard work, reasonable solutions and leaders dedicated to the art of compromise, we could have finished on time …
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Senator says she assumed colleague had deleted it.
With an ethics hearing into the affair two days away, state Sen. Barb Goodwin (DFL-50) said Saturday she was "shocked and unhappy" to see that a colleague has not deleted a Twitter message accusing her of applying disparaging terms to mentally ill people. Goodwin said via email she assumed that Sen. Gretchen Hoffman (R-10) had removed the tweet—until she followed a link to it in Hoffman's Twitter stream in a Fridley Patch article Thursday: I was really shocked and unhappy about it. I believed it had come down after the first couple of days. That's a long time for people with mental illness and their families to assume anyone in the Legislature would say such awful things. No Conflict Another familiar Fridley face will be present Monday …
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The UpTake will carry video as panel airs complaint Monday.
A Minnesota Senate subcommittee will meet at 1:30 p.m. Monday to hear the ethics complaint on behalf of Sen. Barb Goodwin about a colleague's tweet. The UpTake will carry live, streaming video of the hearing. Goodwin (DFL-50) demanded an apology after Sen. Gretchen Hoffman (R-10) May 18 claimed in a Twitter message that Goodwin had applied derogatory terms to mentally ill people during a floor speech: #Sen Goodwin just called people with mental illness- idiots and imbeciles- while debating HHS bill #offensive #mndfl #mnsrc #mnleg Goodwin used the terms in reference to what state mental hospitals used to be called—"Institutions for Idiots and Imbeciles and the Insane"—as part of a debate over the state's budget for health and human services…
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Legislature adjourned without budget compromise.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Here is an end-of-session statement from state Rep. Tom Tillberry (DFL-51B). We invited the five legislators who represent parts of Fridley to comment at the end of the Minnesota Legislature's regular session, and now we've heard from all three House members, including Carolyn Laine (DFL-50A) and Kate Knuth (DFL-50B). Tillberry's message: In the 2011 legislative session, we were facing a record budget deficit and a still struggling economy. Rather than the balanced approach advocated by Governor Dayton and DFLers in the legislature, the Republican majority chose to push their all-cuts budget, and protect special interests and the wealthiest 2 percent. Budgets are about choices and priorities. Do we repeat the mistakes of the past that have…
Friday, May 27, 2011
Sen. Franken was also at Minneapolis' facilities in Fridley.
Both of Minnesota's U.S. senators were in Fridley Friday morning, visiting City of Minneapolis facilities along the Mississippi River in Fridley's far southwestern corner. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL) toured tornado damage at the Fridley campus of the Minneapolis Water Works while Sen. Al Franken (DFL) met with local officials inside the City of Minneapolis Emergency Operations Training Facility. "I was glad and heartened that it wasn't so much worse," Klobuchar said in an interview after the tour. 'Important Structure' Still, she cited several examples of the storm's power that she learned of during the tour: winds tossing heavy equipment inside a Fridley industrial building and damage that rendered a century-old brick chimney at the water …
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4300 Marshall St NE, Fridley, MN
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25 37th Ave NE, Fridley, MN
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Saturday, May 21, 2011
The bill to put the amendment on the 2012 ballot passed 70-62.
Two state representatives who represent Fridley spoke on the floor of the state House Saturday night against putting a Constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage on the 2012 general-election ballot. The bill later passed 70-62. Rep. Carolyn Laine (DFL-50A) said the issue made her "very sad," mentioned a lesbian couple who are "my dearest friends," and emphasized "recognizing our oneness." She referred to an earlier speech by Rep. John Ward (DFL-12A): Rep. Ward, you mentioned that because one of your arms is different than the other arm, you were denied a job four times as a young person. You could have struck out in anger but instead you vowed, from the heart, never to be discriminatory yourself. Now that's recognizing our …
Amy Paddock
8:22 am on Thursday, July 21, 2011
Since this was all pushed through, not sure how else they could have voted on the bills. Not a lot to time for input, obviously. I think that this is are a lot of people who are upset about the issue of having to delay payments to schools, and I really value Minnesota's education. I think we really missed an opportunity to do to do more with the revenue sources. Everyone pitching in a little … more ›