The Governor's Masterpiece

It just keeps getting better...

Two weeks ago, after the special session negotiations between Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republican Speaker of the Minnesota House Kurt Daudt (K-Dogg) fell apart, I wrote a detailed piece, referencing the political negotiations from this summer, proving definitively Governor Dayton was FAR smarter than Daudt.  Here's the link:

http://progressivecitizenx.blogspot.com/2016/08/k-dogg-is-really-not-that-smart.html

I had no idea how much smarter Dayton really was until today, when his masterpiece was displayed for all to see!

After the special session failed, due to the Democrats demanding the Southwest Light Rail Line (SWLRT) needed to be in the bill, and Daudt's insistence mass transportation has never ever worked (ignore the other Twin Cities light rail lines, all major cities, Europe), Kurt hatched a plan.  He decided he would turn the 2016 election in Minnesota into another rural verses metro territorial fight, with the "last straw" being SWLRT.  Mind you, many conservative elements of the metro area want SWLRT, any politician who thinks every community should only build transportation for their own immediate area is incredibly dumb, and outstate Minnesota loves billions in (mostly metro area) tax payer dollars being spent on a new football stadium for a billionaire owner, not for needed transportation improvements, but deep thoughts seem to avoid K-Dogg, whose party is tied to Donald Trump this election cycle.  He needed to find something he could campaign on.  The warped righto fan fiction of how Twin Cities area Democrats wanted to steal every dollar from outstate Minnesota to build SWLRT was his new rallying cry.

Slight problem.  Governor Dayton was expecting this move, and completely outflanked Daudt and the Republicans.  He called upon three different agencies (the Metropolitan Council, the Hennepin County Rail Authority and the County Transit Advisory Board) to offset the remaining 140 million needed to secure the billion dollars in federal transportation funds available for the SWLRT project.  They all agreed.  Yesterday, HCR passed their portion, and today, the other two boards did the same, a unanimous decision in regards to the Met Council.  The funding is secured.  SWLRT will be built.

What was destroyed in these three votes was the Republican strategy to keep their heads above water this election cycle.  How much money was already spent on campaign literature geared at stopping a light rail line which has now been approved?  How many campaign speeches had already been given about a now dated issue?  It's spoiled milk the MNGOP is trying to pour on their voter's bran flakes.  I'm sure the GOP will try to insist light rail is still the devil's monkey bars, but voters are no longer going to be energized by anti-SWLRT arguments, similar to how most Republican voters ignored the gay marriage issue after the Democrats made it legal in Minnesota.

Put the last two weeks together with the entire summer, and Governor Dayton just had one of the most vicious political smackdowns I've ever seen.  When you think back to the last day of regular session, K-Dogg thinking he had all the power, defiantly rejecting the mutilated Bonding/Transportation bill because SWLRT was on it.  Then think of how the Governor out maneuvered Daudt at every turn this summer.  Fast forward to today and survey Dayton's path of destruction through the Republican flanks.  The ONLY thing moving forward from those last days of the regular session is SWLRT.  The Governor did all of this pretty much by himself, and then, as an afterthought coup de grâce, he annihilated the GOP's one talking point for the fall election cycle.

Standing Ovation, Bravo, Encore, DAAMMNNNN!

Hey Speaker Daudt, and the rest of the MNGOP, you might want to rethink the next time one of you decides to insult or demean the Governor, like you did at the beginning of special session in 2015.  He doesn't like it, and he'll get payback.  He didn't just beat you, he beat you so bad, your parents are saying "Ow!"  Then he torched your car.  Scoreboard!

I need to revise the last sentence from the article I referenced:  Speaker Kurt Daudt, Rep. Joyce Peppin, Sen. David Hann and the entire Minnesota Republican Party, you all need to run home and grab your shine boxes!

(HEHEHEHEHEHE)