Ripple Effect

Now that the Minnesota DFL, a political party which walked into this legislative year riding a massive wave of success and popularity, holding the most important office in the state (Governor) and one of the two legislative branches (Senate), with a mandate to continue on the path they paved, with a nearly two billion dollar surplus, and only themselves to get into their own way, now that it's been undone by treachery and personal agenda, the DFL has got to pick up the pieces and move forward.  Here are some suggestions on how they can do so, before they get trounced in next year's elections.

1) Senator Bakk needs to either resign or be removed from his Senate leadership position.  He's proven to be the worst DFL Senator we could have in that roll.  He put his personal agenda ahead of what was best for the state, placing profit margins for a foreign mining company ahead of what's best for the citizens of Minnesota, double crossing many senators from his own party along the way.  Bakk had his personal hatred of Governor Dayton played effectively by the GOP, ensuring the compromise bills pushed out of the legislative branch were written from an extremely pro-Republican point of view, intentionally designed to stymy the Governor's political bankroll, a bankroll he had handed to him by the voters last November.  When it came to negotiations on the final bills between the Governor and the Legislative Branch, Bakk defaulted to Speaker Daudt (something I presume was motivated by his reluctance to face the Governor in light of such overwhelming betrayal), wasting the powerful position the DFL could've had when it came to toning down the GOP bills.  And, even after the damage had been done, as the GOP was popping champaign bottles at their success, Bakk was played one last time in the final hours of the special session, which, in turn, solidified my opinion on why he needs to be removed.

The GOP was ALWAYS going to pass the special session bills they had in front of them.  They were.  They never dreamed they would get such pro-Republican bills at the beginning of this session.  They would've never let these bills slip from their fingers, but when Senator Bakk realized he had lost the faith of his own party during the special session vote for the Environmental and Agricultural Bill, coming up one vote shy of what was needed to pass, he didn't address the concerns of his own party, nor did he call the GOP's bluff, which would've sent them scrambling to pass it.  Nope!  He unbelievably went hat in hand to the Senate Minority Leader, Republican David Hann, promising him (according to the Star Tribune), "significant tax reductions" during next year's legislative session.  That's right, even though the GOP would've never let that bill falter, Bakk failed to realize it and has already promised next years Senate will be driven from a pro-GOP agenda; the Democratic majority in the Senate has already been defeated for 2016.

A majority leader needs to work with the tools he has in his tool box, cultivating a relationship with the other Democratic leaders, to best help him get a DFL agenda pushed through, not allow petty, ignorant, personal vendettas to rule his decision making process.  A majority leader needs to put his party's core principles first, for the betterment of the state, not a personal agenda geared to his own benefit.  Senator Bakk will likely make a lot of one on one calls to DFL Senators trying to smooth over his atrocious leadership decisions, while pinky swearing he won't double cross the DFL again.  Don't trust him.  Fire his butt, immediately from the leadership role he does not deserve.

2) Put all DFL Senator's on notice:  YOU have chosen to be part of the DFL; act like it.  No more of this jumping ship to the GOP if the DFL doesn't give you exactly what you want.  All you're doing is selling out the state, and your party, for personal gain.  This is a textbook example of how a minority party can use simpletons to become the majority party.  We elected you to lead, not be wishy-washy sellouts who are only in it for yourselves.  If the bill in front of you erodes the core principles of the party, you vote against it regardless of the amount of hand picked pork the GOP has vowed to give you in return for you selling out your party.  This is not about punishing differing opinions, it's about making sure DFL core principles are just that, core principles.

3) There is no off season.  You have to be on the offensive for the rest of the year.  Even with their success, the GOP has hurt themselves in rural Minnesota by not following through on their campaign promises, and they clearly will never care about Minneapolis, St. Paul, or the first ring suburbs.  The GOP is a party which is only strong in wealthy suburban areas, and in extreme, fringe districts that would vote for a turnip with an R next to it (Bachmann).  The DFL candidates, whether incumbents or challengers, need to be aggressive, having weekly community gatherings, with local media, talking about protecting education, undoing the damage the GOP has done to the environment, saving the Auditor's office, fixing the transportation problems the state has, and putting forward spending bills which place the middle and lower class first.  They need to talk to their constituents about preventing the GOP from taking the budget surplus and giving it away to the wealthiest one thousand individuals in the state.  From now until the 2016 session begins, we need to embrace the DFL's populist message and hammer it home.

4)  The Minnesota DFL needs to put together a game plan for the 2016 legislative cycle which follows one of two paths.

The first would have the Senate pass the most far left agenda they possibly could.  I mean extreme.  Why?  Not because I'm a socialist (pure capitalist, thank you), but because the GOP House is going to pass the most obnoxiously, far right bills, ever conceived, in 2016.  The only way you counter punch them is to go to the negotiation table with the exact opposite.

Imagine a line scale with zero in the middle.  On the left, the scale goes from the zero up to 100.  Label that side 'the Democrats' (D).  Then do the same on the right, going the opposite direction, and label that side 'the Republicans' (R).  The House GOP are going to pass bills which will fall on the scale in the +80 to 90 R range.  If the DFL comes out with bills that fall on the scale in the +10 to 20 D range, when it comes to negotiations, the end result will be a +30 to 40 R compromise.  That's without a Senate Majority leader who can easily be manipulated by the opposition party.

If the DFL passes a +80 to 90 D platform out of the Senate, the end result, after the negotiations with the House GOP, and with a DFL Governor who'll have to sign off on the final bills, would be a +10 to 20 D compromise, where it should be in this current political environment.  Considering the potential  of a Senate majority leader selling out the DFL, it's a risky move with some lurking pitfalls.

The other path is the safer one; have the Senate Majority Leader and Governor Dayton sit down prior to the beginning of the 2016 session, and at regular intervals during the session, to make sure their agendas match up.  Two weeks before the end of session, the Senate Majority Leader and the Governor should have a final game plan session to make sure Speaker Daudt and the GOP know the minimums the DFL need in the bills for them to even have a chance of coming out of the Senate.  Make sure the DFL Senators are also briefed on these issues, and listen to their input.  When it comes to hammering out the final agendas, the Senate Majority Leader and the Governor act as one, making the GOP concede to the DFL, as opposed to a single individual's cowboy-esque negotiation tactics, which, in turn, dooms the entire DFL platform.

At this point, I think it's safe to say Senator Bakk won't embrace either of these options, so he needs to go.  There's a way to re-energize DFL strength, but you're not going to do so with weak kneed, spineless, self serving, grudge holding Democratic leadership who will sell out their own party and side with the opposition at the drop of a hat.