| | The Daily Digest for September 13, 2019 | | Posted at 6:25 a.m. by Mike Mulcahy |
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Good morning, and welcome to Friday. Here's the Digest. 1. Klobuchar runs to the middle; defends record as prosecutor. Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar defended her record as Hennepin County prosecutor during a debate with nine of her fellow Democratic presidential candidates Thursday night. The DFLer has faced criticism from some African-American activists for not charging police in any officer-involved shooting during her tenure. Police shot and killed 25 people, and four others died in custody while Klobuchar was the county's lead prosecutor from 1999 to 2007. Klobuchar pivoted in response to a moderator's question and said her staff prosecuted criminals who were preying on the black community. "There was a kid named Byron Phillips that was shot on his front porch. No one had bothered to figure out who did it,” said Klobuchar. “When I came into that office, we worked with the community groups, we put up billboards, we found the shooter and we put him in jail." Klobuchar conceded that she left police officer charging decisions to grand juries, but said she now believes that county attorneys should make those calls. Earlier in the debate, the Minnesota Democrat also voiced her opposition to Medicare for All, saying it’s a bad idea to take away private insurance from Americans. She said she's worked with Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on lowering prescription drug prices, but she disagrees with his push for universal government-sponsored health insurance. "And while Bernie wrote the bill, I read the bill,” she said, prompting laughter from the audience. “On page 8 of the bill, it says that we will no longer have private insurance as we know it. And that means that 149 million Americans will no longer be able to have their current insurance. That's in four years. I don't think that's a bold idea, I think it's a bad idea." (MPR News)
2. How President Trump's reelection campaign is targeting states he lost in 2016 . There is a group of voters the campaign calls “2018 disengagers.” These are voters who enthusiastically turned out for Trump in 2016 but sat home during the mid-term elections in 2018. Campaign data indicates those voters have “a high propensity” for going to the polls when Trump is on the ballot, Trump’s strategists say. This has led them to argue that even in states where Democrats made headway in 2018, Trump could still bring out a lot of voters in 2020. The campaign’s political advisor, Bill Stepien, says that is the case for Minnesota, which he sees having similar demographics and political leanings as Pennsylvania, which Trump flipped from blue to red for the first time in a presidential race since George H.W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis there in 1988. “We like how the math works in Minnesota,” Stepien says. Both states have urban centers where Trump does poorly, but they also have large rural and blue-collar areas. The challenge in Minnesota will be whether Trump can generate enough enthusiasm across the state to overcome his low approval ratings among suburban voters around Minneapolis-St. Paul. “There is a pathway to victory in Minnesota, so why wouldn’t we invest there?” Carr says. (TIME)
3. Minnesota won't join opioid settlement. Attorney General Keith Ellison said Minnesota hasn’t joined the reported $12 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of the opioid painkiller Oxycontin. Most states and thousands of local government bodies are plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family, for the role they played in creating the opioid epidemic, which now claims about 50,000 lives each year in the United States. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that about 2,000 of the plaintiffs have agreed to the deal. But attorneys general in states like New York, Wisconsin and Connecticut have said they’re not part of it. Ellison said in a statement released late Wednesday that the terms of the agreement aren’t yet clear enough to convince him to sign on. “I understand there is widespread uncertainty about the details, including the amounts of payments, the time period over which payments would be made, and the terms for ownership and operation of Purdue and other holdings going forward,” Ellison said. “From what I do understand, it may be worth far less than media reports say and seems to be not yet good enough for the magnitude of the death and destruction Purdue and the Sacklers caused.” Attorneys representing the governments in the lawsuit said about half the involved states have signed onto the settlement. Ellison said that the Sackler family should have to give up more of their personal fortunes. He’s expanded the state’s lawsuit to include former Purdue president Richard Sackler and seven other family members, alleging that they deceptively marketed the opioid painkillers and pushed for aggressive sales targets. He also called for more disclosure about the role the company and the Sackler played in the opioid epidemic. (MPR News)
4. University, McKnight look into lawmakers's hiring. The University of Minnesota and a prominent local foundation on Thursday sought to address an eyebrow-raising situation in which a lawmaker was hired by the U for a foundation-funded post he appears to have helped design. In addition, House Speaker Melissa Hortman said she’ll look into the situation, which involves a fellow Democratic House member being hired by a former Democratic state senator — a scenario that’s drawn criticism from Republicans. It’s unclear if any university, foundation or Capitol rules were broken, but the continued responses Thursday signify that all involved are taking it seriously. The McKnight Foundation — the philanthropy whose donation would have been used to pay the lawmaker — said none of its funds would ultimately be used for that purpose, while the U said it plans to reconcile its books to make sure that’s the case.The developments came a day after news broke that Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, had resigned from a climate change fellowship at the U’s Energy Transition Lab, which falls under its Institute on the Environment, as questions were being raised about how Long got the job. (Pioneer Press)
5. Duluth takes on potholes. Potholes are a universal complaint in cities across Minnesota. But both the potholes and the complaints tend to be outsized in Duluth, where the harsh winters and steep hills wreak havoc on roads. Two years ago, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson kicked off a news conference with this frank acknowledgement: "Duluth streets are in terrible shape." Her proposed solution? A half-percent sales tax for up to 25 years to help fix Duluth’s sprawling 450-mile network of dilapidated roads. The city put the idea to voters. And Duluth residents responded overwhelmingly, voting more than 3 to 1 in favor of the sales tax hike. But the state Legislature had to sign off on the plan. It took nearly two years, and a lot of trips to St. Paul to lobby for it, before lawmakers approved. "So, if you'll pardon the pun it really has been a very long road to get here,” said Larson at a follow-up press conference she held Wednesday to unveil the first slate of projects the city intends to tackle with the initial proceeds from the new tax. The city will begin collecting the tax next month. It's expected to generate $7.5 million per year. The hard part, said public works director Jim Benning, was figuring out which streets to fix first. He said he could throw a dart at a map and “hit a neighborhood where I could spend all $7.5 million within a couple blocks.” So, he knows he will be asked, "Why did I pick this street in this neighborhood and the street right next to it is in as bad a shape as the one that I chose?" Ultimately officials selected 52 projects, spread throughout the city, covering at least 17 miles of roadway. That's seven times more than what got fixed last year. The city is also devoting $2.5 million from its general fund to road repair. (MPR News) | |
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