Good morning and TGIF.
On the radio at noon, I will be talking to Republicans Paul Gazelka, Kendall Qualls and Michelle Benson (not all at once) about their campaigns for governor. We’ll hear from the other candidates as we get closer to the state convention. Listen in if you can. Or catch it later on the Politics Friday podcast.
Speaking of the Republican candidates for governor, MPR’s Brian Bakst reportsno one has yet locked down enough support for a first ballot endorsement. “It will be a free for all come May 14th,” said Gazelka, the former majority leader and second-place finisher in a February straw ballot at precinct caucuses. “There are too many candidates in the race for somebody to seal it up on the first ballot, so there'll be a floor fight,” echoed state Benson, another candidate in the mix. Delegates at the convention are often pledged to a candidate on the first ballot but become free agents after. That poses a dilemma in a packed field. Those chasing the leader need to sow doubt about electability. But coming on too hard can turn off that person’s backers for good. “What you need to be with this larger field, is you need to be everybody's second choice,” said Tim Commers, who was campaign manager for Tim Pawlenty when he secured endorsement after 12 ballots in 2002.
Former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek was released Thursday from North Memorial Health Hospital after a car crash in Buffalo on Tuesday night. The state patrol said Stanek was driving a pickup truck that crashed into a car driven by a 40-year-old Clearwater woman as he was pulling out of a church parking lot. He'd been speaking to a group of Republicans there as part of his campaign for governor.
As for the current governor, he’s been traveling the state this week trying to build support for his budget plan.The Star Tribune reports Republicans and Democrats have agreed to very little so far this session, with a May 23 adjournment deadline and a nearly $9.3 billion projected budget surplus on the bottom line. "I don't think it's time to panic yet," Walz said, noting he's frustrated over early inaction this year on sending direct checks to workers on the frontlines of the pandemic, as well as replenishing the state's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. The fund was drained by record claims during the pandemic and has triggered big tax hikes on businesses. With legislators back home for the Easter/Passover break this week, Walz is using his bully pulpit to increase pressure to pass parts of his plan. He said legislators in both parties are talking to their communities about the session. "They're out there listening to their folks, and I think they're hearing it."
Minnesota's unemployment rate dropped to 2.5 percent in March, tying a record low set in 1999. At the same time, the labor force participation rate ticked up to 68.1 percent. Pre pandemic, that number was about 70 percent. Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove said March 2022 was a good month for Minnesota. "We had our sixth straight month of job growth, 11,500 new jobs in our state, about a 0.4 percent increase from last month. So this is good news. We're continuing to see growth in our economy, jobs are coming back, every week thousands of people are falling off the unemployment insurance rolls and into work as well.” Grove said 76 percent of jobs lost at the beginning of the COVID pandemic have been recovered in the public and private sector. However, he said wage growth, while rising, is not keeping up with inflation which is at a 40-year high. And Grove noted there are racial disparities in the economic recovery from the pandemic. "The Black unemployment rate now sits at 7.1 percent and the Hispanic rate sits at 5.1 percent of that 12 month rolling average, compared to 3 percent for whites,” Grove said. “So you are not seeing this recovery happening in an even way. There's some unevenness to this."
Another veteran lawmaker is retiring from the Minnesota Legislature in a year that’s seen plenty of departures. Third term Sen. Kent Eken, DFL- Audubon, said he wants to return to teaching. He also said redistricting played a role in his decision, given the big changes to his Moorhead-area district. Eken served a decade in the House before winning a Senate seat in 2012. He’s focused on long-term care, disability and economic development issues in office. He’s the 20th of 67 incumbent senators to announce they’ll leave after this term. The House is also expected to have many fresh faces in 2023.
A very large, crazy cow has gotten loose. Can you come tranquilize it? There are 10 stray kittens in my tree. Will you come get them, because they are cold? Can I keep a roadkill deer? MPR’s Dan Kraker reports the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources gets questions. Lots of them. More than 100,000 annually come to a small office in St. Paul, where a team of 11 information consultants responds to more than 400 phone calls and emails that roll in every day, six days a week, all year long. No matter the question, DNR information center supervisor Justin Badini and his staff work hard to provide answers. No question, he emphasized, is a dumb question. "We welcome every question that comes in to us. We just want to educate people and get them the right answer and just help them,” he said. “And if we don't know? | 
