I Don’t Hate America!

We all have to miss work from time to time. Well, except in the occasional story seen at the tail end of the 5 p.m. news of the “factory worker who retired without missing a day in 200 years,” but that is extremely rare. Events like a death in the family, illness, transportation trouble or the graduation of a son or daughter can get in the way of making it to work either on time or at all on a given day and a reasonable employer will make accommodations.

In order to get out of a day of work in the Minnesota House of Representatives a member must write a simple request to the speaker and that particular member will be noted in the journal as excused.

On May 7 and 8 of this year, Rep. Randy Demmer, R-Hayfield, did just that, but not for one of the dire situations listed above. Rather, Rep. Demmer took a trip to Washington, D.C. to attend Republican “congressional candidate school.” No big deal, right? So what, he only missed a couple of votes?

Let me continue. Some of our jobs require expenses, such as meals, for which the employee is able to be reimbursed. Certainly if you aren’t working a given day, you don’t have work related expenses and wouldn’t expect reimbursement, right? Well, it doesn’t work that way at the Minnesota Legislature, where the maximum per diem of $77 is available to members daily with virtually no oversight. No receipts, invoices or any other paperwork to prove expense.

Demmer, who wants to unseat First District Congressman Tim Walz, took the maximum per diem of $77 on 139 consecutive days during the 2007 legislative session. Yes, even the two days he was in D.C. learning campaign tricks from Karl Rove.

But he only missed a couple of votes, right? If you read this paragraph from the Rochester Post-Bulletin, it’s what Demmer would have you believe (thanks Ollie, for finding it):

Demmer said that while he took a leave of absence from the state House during his trip, he said that he was not on any conference committees and that bills brought up for a vote those days were not final. “I missed two or three votes, and those bills are coming back around,” he said.

Two or three, Randy? Maybe you really are Teen Talk Barbie (you know, math is hard?). It was more than “two or three” but let’s start with your lack of expertise in the area of division, and no, I don’t mean obnoxiously yelling out “DIVISION!” on the House floor after an obvious loss during a voice vote; you House Republicans are quite good at that. Blue Man has an easier explanation about Demmer’s math than I do, but bear with me.

Let’s take $10,703 (total per diem taken by Demmer) divided by $77 (max. per diem) and that equals 139 (total days between the opening and closing gavels of the legislature). You didn’t think ordinary citizens would be able to find out you took per diem for days you were in Washington working on your political ambitions for higher office, Or do you think they just wouldn’t care? Your constituents will be the ones holding you accountable for lack of representation in St. Paul on those two days. Taking per diem on those days though? *I* pay for that, pally. All of us who pay state taxes pay for that. Shameful!

Do I think the House and Senate leadership should (and should have in the past under GOP control!) institute a measure of accountability for these funds? Absolutely. Do I think you, Rep. Demmer, should be off the hook for having the tax payers cover the tabs for your meals in D.C.? I know restaurants out there can be spendy, but the answer is NO.

Back to the missed votes: Wow, it looks like your math problems are even worse than I first diagnosed. Pressing your luck with voters, Randy? While I can give you the benefit of the doubt for thinking division can be a difficult concept, your inability to master one of the most fundamental skills of mathematics, counting, should be considered inexcusable by your constituents. All who have reached grade one, at least.

Let’s take a look at the floor activity from Monday, May 7.

The first bill was SF1131 dealing with preventative health care programs for cities. Speaking of Rep. Demmer “pressing his luck,” in the words of the late Peter Tomarken:

“Let’s goto the big board!”

I hear Rep. Demmer yelling “Big Bucks! No Whammies!” from afar.

Oh, a Whammy! See there kids? The yellow arrow points to the name of our candidate who was out in D.C. OK, so I guess we can give you a freebie as this seems to be a non-controversial bill.

Oh wait, I thought you said bills brought up for a vote those days were not final?

It was signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty three days later. How can you get more final than that?

Next up: SF805, modifying coverage for hearing aids.

Again, that one was presented three days later to the governor. That sufficiently blows one of your assertions out of the water, eh Randy?

Next one: The game, fish and lands bill, SF1131.

Hmm, a little more controversial that time and I’m sure your constituents would have appreciated your leadership. You do possess leadership skill, right? Not only did you miss the vote for final passage, but you missed a roll call vote for an amendment. We’re already to a total of four missed votes. Let me see if I get this equation right: 4 > 2 or 3. Yeah, I could call a math professor, but I will trust my judgment that I am right. In fairness though, this time the bill did come around again after a conference committee. Still, shouldn’t it be important for you, Randy, to help craft your chamber’s position entering conference?

As you know Randy, four Whammies, and you’re out of the game! Fortunately for you the House rules allow you to land on the “Big Bucks!” square while still getting four Whammies! Or maybe you’re a Whammy yourself taking all of our money!

Next bill on the Calender of the Day for Monday, May 7, 2007 (I hear the voice of Al Mathiowitz, House chief clerk, in my head as I type this) is HF2294, a bill modifying the Cook-Orr Hospital District levy. I don’t pretend to be educated on this issue, but then again I’m not an elected state representative expected to vote on it. Hee hee.

Next up is not a bill but rather a motion to refer another motion dealing with allegations against the Attorney General’s office. Unfortunately for Rep. Demmer, Marty Seifert yelled out “MADAME SPEAKER, ROLL CALL ON THAT PLEASE!!!,” thus causing him to stretch the “two or three votes” song and dance even more.

Finally for May 7, after a roll call vote on a motion to refuse to concur with the Senate, the conference committee report on SF2171, the health and human services bill was before the House.

This bill was vetoed by the Governor and did indeed come back again. But Randy, is that any reason your leadership prowess shouldn’t have been present on the floor for the vote on behalf of your district? Mark Buesgens isn’t in any official leadership capacity with the GOP caucus, but that doesn’t stop him from articulating his conservative viewpoints on the floor. Randy, maybe Buesgens and you can switch seats, he actually sits on the back-bench; you just act like you do!

After day one of his absence, we see at least eight roll call votes missed by Randy Demmer. Quite a bit more than “two or three.” Let’s take a look at May 8. First up was the conference committee report on HF455, a bill dealing with public defenders.

Next, our friend Rep. Leon Lillie’s first bill to the floor this year, SF1073, ratifying public employee labor contracts.

SF1509, Hennepin County design build modifications is next:

Airport zoning disclosure requirements, SF218 is next:

SF26, medical practices board advisory councils expiration dates elimination:

Here’s one that should be of interest to Demmer’s constituents (you do have consumers and business owners in your district, right Randy?): security breach liability involving credit cards, HF1758. First an amendment offered by another potential candidate for Congress, Rep. Kurt Zellers:

And final passage:

Next, SF118, dealing with the capitol area planning board and legislative membership:

Finally, our last votes of the day. After a roll call vote on a motion to refuse to adopt the conference committee report, here’s the roll call for final passage on SF1989, the higher-ed bill, one I lobbied on behalf of considerably:

On the second day of his trip to Washington, he missed at least ten votes for a grand total of 18 (or more, I can’t guarantee I didn’t miss other procedural votes and the like).

Tell me, Randy, how do you get “two or three” out of 18.

There are so many themes arising from all of this and I apologize for not being able to keep this post within any focus.

1. Taking a trip to D.C. for further political ambitions during session while constituents should have their representative in St. Paul.
2. Taking full per diem as a House member while doing the aforementioned activities.
3. Misleading the public (really, I could use the word “lying” here, but I prefer not to go there) about how many votes were missed while on the junket.
4. Downplaying the role of state representative. Doesn’t each member have an election certificate? Does Rep. Demmer like being considered a “backbencher?” How is that perception a good one when trying to prove ability to head to Congress? Should he just go ahead and no-show other days he may consider to not be important, such as those early on in session when very little official action is taken?

I suppose considering his lackluster fundraising thus far, that $154 could be used toward the $20,000 he had to loan his campaign.

No Whammies!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 2:43 am and is filed under Higher Education, Randy Demmer, Tim Walz, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Marty Seifert, 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.