[Speed Gibson,
Wednesday December 13, 2006 at 1:37am]
Dutcher Doesn't Get It
Mitch Berg has a fine post on Lori Sturdevant's latest musing:
Who needs a Legislature? Seriously, isn't that their job? We have campaigns and elections that do all that. Yes, those forums can get fractured and boisterous, but once settled by election, we accept the verdicts and proceed with the sausage making. It's too late to run around organizing a bunch of second guessers. (That's our job as bloggers!)
Granted, there are divides along several lines. Perhaps they are wider than they should be. Personally, I think that's simply because as government grows it affects more people in more ways, increasing the chances of disappointment and frustration. Even if all of the benighted Republicans and rural representatives capitulated to the anointed Minneapolis DFL delegation, the obvious solution envisioned by Dutcher and Sturdevant, the "chasms" would remain.
In short, Judi Dutcher doesn't seem to understand or trust how our state democracy works, a point completely missed in this rather giddy piece by Lori Sturdevant. Carol Molnau does.
***
Answers to quiz: Arne Carlson was elected with Joanell Dyrstad (1990) and JoAnne Benson (1994). Jesse Ventura ran with Mae Schunk. Rudy Perpich's running mate was Marlene Johnson, serving from 1983 to 1991. Alec Olson became Perpich's Lieutenant Governor in 1976-79 when Perpich became Governor by way of Wendell Anderson's resignation/self-promotion to U.S. Senator.
[Lieutenant Governor Candidate Judi Dutcher would] like to see the lieutenant governor become the governor's liaison to the Legislature and the people.This is classic exercise in delusion on several planes, starting with the notion that the Lieutenant Governor has any power or significance while the Governor has a pulse. Unlike her counterpart at the Federal level, she can't even break a tie in the Minnesota Senate.
- Quick: who was Lieutenant Governor under Arne Carlson? Jesse Ventura? and Rudy Perpich? (answers below)
"My job would be to work with every legislator, both sides of the aisle — get to know them, personally and professionally, and ask what issues are facing their communities. What can we in the governor's office do to work with them to get the best results?"You see, she has "genuine worry" about the "widening divisions in the state's body politic." She was going to travel the state as our liaison, holding "regional forums" that would bring "fresh ideas and more citizen input to bear on public problems."
"We'd bring together elected officials and the best public policy leaders in this state, to understand the emerging trends and how we can address them together," she said. The topics she expected the forums to address, just for starters, included the aging of the population, business development, environmental protection, and education improvement.
Who needs a Legislature? Seriously, isn't that their job? We have campaigns and elections that do all that. Yes, those forums can get fractured and boisterous, but once settled by election, we accept the verdicts and proceed with the sausage making. It's too late to run around organizing a bunch of second guessers. (That's our job as bloggers!)
Granted, there are divides along several lines. Perhaps they are wider than they should be. Personally, I think that's simply because as government grows it affects more people in more ways, increasing the chances of disappointment and frustration. Even if all of the benighted Republicans and rural representatives capitulated to the anointed Minneapolis DFL delegation, the obvious solution envisioned by Dutcher and Sturdevant, the "chasms" would remain.
In short, Judi Dutcher doesn't seem to understand or trust how our state democracy works, a point completely missed in this rather giddy piece by Lori Sturdevant. Carol Molnau does.
***
Answers to quiz: Arne Carlson was elected with Joanell Dyrstad (1990) and JoAnne Benson (1994). Jesse Ventura ran with Mae Schunk. Rudy Perpich's running mate was Marlene Johnson, serving from 1983 to 1991. Alec Olson became Perpich's Lieutenant Governor in 1976-79 when Perpich became Governor by way of Wendell Anderson's resignation/self-promotion to U.S. Senator.