The following legislative update was written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) and Information Technology Educators of MN (ITEM).
Received Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at 4:35 pm
Statewide Races: Last night Governor Dayton was re-elected with just over 50% of the vote. It is the first time since 1994 that a Minnesota governor was elected with more than 50% of the vote. Attorney General Lori Swanson and State Auditor Rebecca Otto were re-elected and Steve Simon was elected Secretary of State, completing a DFL sweep of the state constitutional offices.
Minnesota House of Representatives: Republicans picked up 11 seats and won a 72-62 majority in the House. No Republican incumbents were defeated. 11 DFL incumbents were defeated. 10 of those who were defeated represented Greater Minnesota. 6 of them were in their first term.
The incumbents who were defeated are:
Rep. Roger Erickson (DFL – Baudette)
Rep. Joe Radinovich (DFL – Crosby)
Rep. John Ward (DFL – Baxter)
Rep. Tim Faust (DFL – Hinckley)
Rep. Jay McNamar (DFL – Elbow Lake)
Rep. Zach Dorholt (DFL – St. Cloud)
Rep. Andrew Falk (DFL – Murdock)
Rep. Mary Sawazky (DFL – Willmar)
Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL – Faribault)
Rep. Shannon Savick (DFL – Wells)
Rep. Will Morgan (DFL – Burnsville)
Contact Your House Member: Now is the ideal time to send a friendly note congratulating your House member on being elected or re-elected. Offer to be a resource to him or her on any library issues. You can find contact information for all new and returning House members in a directory posted on the House website: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/leginfo/elecdir14.pdf
Elaine Keefe
Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 310
St. Paul, MN 55103
office 651-293-0229
cell 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com
Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/p4m2ool, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Last week’s election was a chance for 21 Central MN school districts to include a total of 30 levy requests on the ballot. As you can imagine, the levy requests were varied, the results were mixed. A total of 16 requests passed (53%), with 14 not passing. Election sources choose to use the word “fail” when levies aren’t approved, but we need to commend schools who ask for what is needed to provide a solid academic experience for students.