Good morning, and TGIF. On the radio today at noon I’ll be talking about the DFL state convention, which takes place this weekend in Rochester.
And speaking of the convention, MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports unlike Republicans last week, there are no contested endorsements. The party will endorse incumbents for all of Minnesota’s statewide offices, but those incumbents face stiff challenges in a year when the president’s approval rating is low, and inflation is high. Midterm elections are historically difficult for the party that controls the White House, but DFL Party Chair Ken Martin contends his party is in better shape than the opposition. “Republicans would rather be in our position than theirs. I can tell you that,” Martin said, adding that concerns are growing among voters about where Republicans want to take the country. “People are really starting to see the Republican Party for who they are,” Martin said. “And they are a bunch of right-wing nuts who are marching us towards fascism.” University of Minnesota political science professor Kathryn Pearson said Democrats have plenty of headwinds to battle, saying their challenges go well beyond inflation and concerns about gas prices. “President Biden is unpopular, and so that helps Republicans,” Pearson said. “It's not just congressional Republicans that suffer when their party's president is unpopular, it's also state legislators and governors of that same party.”
The chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota apologized Thursday for an image that was projected at the party's state convention of George Soros manipulating the strings of puppets with the faces of two prominent Jewish Democrats. Republican Party Chair David Hann said in a statement that after speaking to staff at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, the party understands concerns that the imagery perpetuated an antisemitic trope. “It should not have happened, we apologize, and are committed to working with the JCRC to educate our staff and candidates on antisemitism,” Hann wrote. The image was contained in a video shown by Secretary of State candidate Kim Crockett. The faces on the puppets were DFL elections attorney Marc Elias and Secretary of State Steve Simon. Soros is also Jewish. Crockett, who won the party endorsement at the convention, has not spoken publicly about the video, but Hann said he talked to her. “I have concluded after talking with Ms. Crockett that the depiction of Mr. Soros was not intended as antisemitic, and that neither Ms. Crockett nor her creative team were aware that the depiction of a puppet-master invokes an old but persistent antisemitic trope,” Hann said. In the days after last weekend's convention, the Minnesota DFL Party called on Crockett to apologize.
A conference committee agreed on a bill Thursday that would allow larger craft breweries in Minnesota to sell growlers. The bill also allows craft distilleries to sell up to 750 milliliters of liquor per day to customers, twice what they can sell now, and to operate cocktail rooms on their premises. “I think it is a big win for our small breweries,” said Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater. "We've been fighting for almost eight years to free the growler." The compromise bill authorizes brewers who produce up to 150,000 barrels of beer per year to sell up to 128 ounces of beer per customer per day. The current cap is 20,000 barrels. The bill also allows for special permits that would let establishments serve alcohol for extended hours during World Cup soccer games. Craft brewers have argued that the cap on growler sales is unfair to some of the state’s best known beer makers – Surly, Summit, Lift Bridge, Fulton, Schell’s and Castle Danger — that can’t currently sell growlers because they exceed the 20,000-barrel production limit.
With only a few days left in the 2022 legislative session, a Minnesota Senate panel advanced legislation Thursday to legalize sports betting in the state.MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports the Senate Finance Committee approved the measure on a 5-4 vote and sent it to the full Senate for a final vote. “It’s safe. It’s fun, and a lot of people engage in this activity,” said the bill’s author, Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes. The Senate bill differs from one previously passed by the House. Both versions allow sports betting online and in Indian casinos. But the Senate version also allows sports betting at the state’s two horse racing tracks. Chamberlain said he wants competition. “We believe it’s important as well to have the tracks involved in this as we go forward, to provide a solid product for the consumer across the board, and make it available in different venues and different locations for the consumer,” he said. It’s unclear when the Senate might vote on the bill. Lawmakers face a midnight Sunday deadline for passing bills. The bill received bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition in the committee.
So how’s everything else moving at the Capitol with three days left to pass bills? There’s still a lot to do,the Associated Press reports: Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, of Winona, told reporters Thursday that tax committee chairs are close to a deal on a tax relief package but time is running out. He said several conference committees, including public safety, remained far apart despite hopes earlier this week to get most of the bills done by Wednesday.
Minnesota's unemployment rate hit 2.2 percent in April, marking what state officials say is a continuing strong recovery from the pandemic. It was the seventh straight month the unemployment rate fell, said Department of Employment and Economic Development commissioner Steve Grove. “That's the lowest we've ever had in our state. We are literally at the lowest unemployment rate in the history of Minnesota or at least since we started keeping track back in 1976,” Grove said. “And the good news is that the unemployment rate has gone down because people are getting back into the market. So more and more job seekers are out there. More and more people are finding jobs.” State officials tempered the news, however, noting that racial disparities are noticeable in the data, with unemployment for Black and Hispanic workers still markedly higher. They also said that the construction, mining and logging sectors of the economy have been struggling, and losing workers while other sectors have been gaining, particularly in the hospitality industry.
More on the public safety lockdown at the Capitol Wednesday night from the Associated Press: A police pursuit that ended outside the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul caused officials to temporarily lock down the complex Wednesday night. Legislators and staff attending a House floor session were asked to stay in chambers until the police activity outside was resolved. St. Paul police say four boys are in custody after their stolen vehicle hit a squad car and then crashed in a state parking lot. Three passengers in the stolen vehicle, ages 12, 13 and 15, tried to hide in a portable toilet. Authorities say the three boys and a 15-year-old driver who ran into a nearby building were quickly arrested.
The Star Tribune reports: Minnesota may have avoided losing a congressional seat after the 2020 Census because of an overcounting of state residents. The once-a-decade headcount that is used to allocate political power and federal funding may have overcounted Minnesota's residents by 219,000 people or 3.8 percent of the population, according to results released Thursday from the U.S. Census Bureau's study of census accuracy. The overcount "might have helped us" save the congressional seat, said Minnesota's state demographer, Susan Brower. "But there are thousands of other things that could've happened, as well." | 