Heard today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network:
You may have heard about the little issue of a recount for the MN Senate race? You may also have heard that our Secretary of State, who ran on a platform of “The Secretary of State should be non partisan” but has been THE most partisan Secretary of State and arguably executive leader in Minnesota ever, has been highly partisan in his actions thus far. You may also have hear that our Secretary of State has a history with groups like ACORN…
Well,
The House Republican leader, Marty Seifert announced that the Republican House minority has agreed with Governor Tim Pawlenty that the Governor will line item veto the budget for the Secretary of State’s office and the Republican House members will sustain the veto, until the Democrats agree to require a photo ID for voting!
Seifert has done a great job leading a minority group. If it hadn’t been for 6 RINOs last year (Oh and they are all gone now) he would have held the Dems last year to a modest budget increase with no increased taxes and left us positioned to face the current downturn. It’s unfortunate that Seifert has not had a majority to work with…he’s my kind of Republican.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I’m sure the Dems will get snippy and threaten retaliation. The real question will be if the 47 Republican House members can stay united. I suspect they can.
A photo ID requirement would at the least put to rest, concerns of voter fraud. If it doesn’t exist, no harm. If it does exist, there’s no other way to ferret it out.
Good luck Marty! This will be one blogger who will watch and support your efforts!
I don’t know why we’re bothering with the resources to even conduct a recount. I have a really bad feeling this will go the way of Dino Rossi vs. Christine Gregoire four years ago in Washington State. I hope I’m wrong…
(As far as Seifert goes, I wish him luck with the budget veto, but find it hard to believe that will happen either. We need voter ID badly, but if Wisconsin is any indication of how Minnesota will go, it won’t go well.)
Joey,
Don’t disagree with either of your points. However, it’s good to see a Republican with a spine and more importantly, willing to use it. It may not work but I’d rather die fighting than curled up in the fetal position.
As to the recount…and I need to get a post up on this, other than embarassment heaped upon MN, it really doesn’t matter. 56, 57, 58, 59 or 60 Dem Senators is irrelevant when Snowe, Specter, Collins…oh and don’t forget McCain.