Great Meeting in Lindstrom (can't find the umlaut) Last Night.  The Chisago County Board has taken an increasing interest in education and last night they hosted a meeting of local school districts (Chisago Lakes, Forest Lake, North Branch, Rush City, and the St. Croix River Education District) to discuss some possibilities for improved funding for districts in the area.  Each of the districts in attendance falls below the state average in terms of per pupil revenue and the fact that Chisago County is a low property wealth county complicates matters as it is difficult for these districts to pass voter-approved referenda to make up the difference where state revenue falls short.

Deb Griffiths gave her school finance presentation and I urge all SEE members to take advantage of the opportunity to have Deb out to provide your community with this information.  It is clear and concise and shows how school districts throughout the state with few exceptions constantly find themselves behind the funding eight-ball.  It works in multiple venues and Deb's experience in giving the presentation to audiences beyond the school board setting makes it an ideal way for districts to give communities as a whole a better understanding of the funding challenges faced by school districts.

It is truly great to see the Chisago County Board joining the education funding debate and pledging its support to remedying funding and property tax inequities that plague so many members of SEE.  For my part, I want to encourage SEE members to explore the possibility of working with your city councils and county boards and see if synergies like the one happening in Chisago County are possible in your area.

Another Loss to the America's Cultural Mosaic.  Most of you know I'm quite the music fan, having grown up in the 1960's with my transistor radio next to my ear.  Like many of you, I was saddened by the news yesterday of the death of Aretha Franklin.  In honor of The Queen of Soul, here's a great video clip of her in high-powered action.  

A Belated Tribute to Barbara Baker.  

There are very few people still involved with SEE whose service dates back to the era when Barbara Baker was leading the organization.  Back in 1979, Barbara's management company--Baker Research & Consulting--ran the organization and run it she did.  I first met Barbara when I was on Senate Education Committee staff in the late-1980s and I had the pleasure working for her in my first years as a lobbyist in the early-1990s.  To say Barbara was a tenacious advocate for the cause of funding equity understates the case.  She never raised her voice, but she always got her point across firmly and politely.  Barbara was at the helm when the members of SEE (then known as the Association for Stable or Growing School Districts--ASGSD) comprised the plaintiffs in the Skeen v. Minnesota lawsuit and that was an extremely arduous task and one she performed with her usual aplomb.  That effort was an organizational challenge, but Barbara saw the organization through the successful district court decision (in which the plaintiffs won) and the subsequent reversal by the Minnesota Supreme Court.  The day the Supreme Court decision came down, Barbara was disappointed, but refused to sulk.  The same day we had a press statement ready to go and managed somehow to maintain control over discussion of the issue.  No small task, but there was no task that Barbara found too daunting.

On a personal note, I know I wouldn't be where I am today without Barbara and ASGSD taking a chance on me.  Barbara provided me with a lot of guidance on the how-to's of lobbying.  I had an extensive background in the legislative process and a pretty good handle of education finance when I was brought on board, but I lacked the finesse that a good lobbyist needs to succeed and Barbara served as a mentor in helping me acquire those skills.  I will never forget when Barbara and I were meeting with a high-ranking official in Governor Carlson's office to discuss his line-item veto of the first debt service equalization appropriation.  I attempted to explain what we were trying to accomplish when the official stopped me and said something to the effect "Well, that's socialism."  In my younger days, I could go from zero-to-sixty in the spirited debate department and, after the initial shock of the statement, I was about to blow up.  Barbara could see the steam coming out of my ears and before I could say anything, she took control of the conversation and, as was her style, calmly disagreed with the official.  We left the meeting in good shape and afterwards had a good laugh about how I had avoided an embarrassing, and perhaps damaging, situation.  It was one of the many lessons I learned from working with Barbara.

It's not just me that benefited from Barbara's expertise and ability.  People are surprised to learn that the MSBA Delegate Assembly would almost break out in riots--rhetorical and otherwise--when the Skeen lawsuit was in court.  The lawsuit divided school districts in a lot of ways and there were tons of hotly-contested resolutions that were specific and which had winners and losers in terms of the proposed policy effects.  Barbara worked the floor of those sessions and was a magnificent vote-counter.  Those efforts helped keep the equity issue front-and-center in the education funding debate and whatever progress we have made over the almost 40 years that SEE has been in existence are built on the foundation that Barbara and the early SEE pioneers carefully and firmly laid in place.

Here is a link to Barbara's obituary from the StarTribune:  Barbara Anne (Brooke) Baker Obituary

Enough Goofin' Around!  I haven't blogged since the end of the legislative session and yesterday's primary election provides a great opportunity to start it up again.

The surprise in from yesterday's results came in the Republican gubernatorial race.  Most pundits thought the former Governor Tim Pawlenty would win his match-up with Hennepin County Commissioner and 2014 Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson and some thought Pawlenty would win quite handily.  The problem with picking primary winners is that with turnout levels much lower than the general election, a particularly motivated block of voters can turn the election.  The Republican party has done quite well over the past couple of decades in getting their endorsed candidate through the primary election successfully.  On the other hand, this is the second consecutive time that the DFL has not gotten its endorsed candidate for Governor to the general election (not counting Governor Dayton's 2014 re-election effort as a sitting incumbent).  I wish I knew for reason for the difference.

For my part, I told many (and the SEE legislative committee is my set of witnesses) that I would be surprised, but not shocked, if Commissioner Johnson defeated former Governor Pawlenty.  Yesterday's result reminded me of the 1990 Republican primary election when endorsed candidate Jon Grunseth was pitted against Arne Carlson.  Carlson went straight to the primary as the moderate alternative, foregoing the endorsement battle that featured Grunseth against David Printy in which Grunseth prevailed.  Carlson was the prohibitive favorite in the primary, with most polls showing him with a comfortable lead (some polls showed him with a lead of nearly twenty points), but, like yesterday, the Republican voters rallied behind the endorsed candidate to put him into the general election . . . but not quite as all of you will recall that a scandal removed Grunseth from the ticket, where he was replaced by Carlson and Carlson defeated incumbent Rudy Perpich to become Governor.  On primary evening in 1990, I remember (having had the opportunity to be in an election night "war room" in what now seems like the horse-and-buggy days of politics) the look on Carlson's face when asked how things were going as the early returns were coming in and realizing (as I had seen that face on other politicians in the past) that things weren't going to turn out well for him.  As an aside, campaigns pick a set of precincts as their target precincts to gauge their chances at success.  There is a science to picking target precincts and if they are chosen accurately, the candidates generally know how they are faring early in the vote tabulation process.  There can still be surprises, but that type of methodology is usually dead on and it likely was again last night.

In yesteday's Morning Take, publisher Blois Olson highlighted the First Congressional District as one to watch.  He conjectured that if State Senator Carla Nelson fared well in her challenge to GOP-endorsed Jim Hagedorn, it may be a harbinger of a similar success for Pawlenty.  Like the statewide GOP primary, Hagedorn prevailed by an almost 2-to-1 margin and while Johnson's victory over Pawlenty didn't reach that level, it was an indication that Republican voters were pretty much going along with their endorsed candidates.

From my perspective, two other elements contributed to Pawlenty's coming up short.  Because the DFL was anticipating a Pawlenty victory, much of the advertising by each candidate tied Pawlenty to policies he pursued during his time as Governor.  While those policies were supported by Republicans, Pawlenty needed to bring other folks to the polls in order to go over the top and the ads probably blunted enthusiasm for another Pawlenty term.  Which leads to the second point, which is (being a bit glib), the "third time is not the charm."  Minnesotans seem to have an aversion to giving Governors a third term, as (again channeling 1990) Rudy Perpich found out.

The DFL side of the night had a lot more drama given events of the last month.  Early polls showed a tight race between Attorney General Lori Swanson and First District Congressman Tim Walz with endorsed candidate Erin Murphy lagging behind.  As I stated earlier, a motivated voting bloc can make all the difference and while Murphy had trouble raising money to get ads on the air until late in the game while both Swanson and Walz had ads on shortly after the DFL state convention.  Murphy's campaign picked up steam as the primary approached, but there was just too much ground to pick up to overtake Walz.  I was somewhat surprised that Swanson fell into third place by the margin that she did, but (and this is getting to be a theme) the voting blocs in primaries can be quite fluid.

As we look toward to the general election, it's important to note that turnout on the DFL side was considerably higher than on the GOP side yesterday.  Some may attribute that to energy on the DFL side emanating from opposition to President Trump.  A word of caution needs to be injected, because in 2010 DFL turnout was similarly higher than on the Republican side and it turned out to be a wave election for the Republicans.  Like this year, 2010 featured a hotly-contested race between DFL-endorsed candidate Margaret Anderson-Kelliher and Mark Dayton.  Dayton narrowly won the general election over then-State Representative (now Congressman) Tom Emmer.  It is tempting to extrapolate general election projections from primary results, but it is a dicey proposition.  One thing to remember is that the party that holds the Presidency usually (but not always) has a difficult time with mid-term elections, which the Obama Administration faced in 2010 and 2014.  DFLers appear to have more energy this year and we will have to see if that translates into general election results and what those results are.

Good to be back on the blog scene.  Let me know your thoughts.