AFTERNOON EDITION

When at last you don’t succeed … cast a wide net of blame. Tom Scheck of MPR describes a primary activity at the Legislature today: “Dayton accused Republicans of failing to negotiate, since they started wrapping up their budget bills only hours after Dayton met with legislative leaders to talk about letting state commissioners take the lead in budget talks. Dayton said he's not hopeful that an agreement will be reached by Monday. He said Republicans aren't budging on their budget plan, even though he scaled back his income tax hike twice in an effort to reach a budget deal. While Dayton accuses Republicans of having their feet stuck in cement, Republicans argue that Dayton is the one who isn't willing to negotiate. ‘Trying to get a negotiating strategy that is consistent so far for all of us is like nailing Jell-O to a tree,’ said Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers.”  How many jobs  are “provided”  by Jell-O nailing?

Despite a slump in construction work, the state’s jobless rate fell, negligibly, to 6.5 percent. Chris Newmarker at Finance and Commerce writes: “Minnesota’s unemployment rate fell a tenth of a percentage point to 6.5 percent in April, but the number of jobs in the state fell by 5,200 as two months of jobs growth in the construction sector came to a halt. The construction sector lost 5,700 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis. DEED Commissioner Mark Phillips blamed the losses on the weather. ‘Colder-than-normal temperatures in April might have been a factor, but next month’s report will give us a better indication of whether that was the case,’ Phillips said in a news release.”

Stories about legal action against robo-signing, usually by large banks prematurely forcing foreclosures, have been piling up to the point it’s hard telling them apart. Today Minnesota AG Lori Swanson announced a suit against one of the country’s biggest debt collectors. The Reuters story by Jonathan Stempel says: “Thursday's lawsuit against Encore's Midland Funding LLC and Midland Credit Management Inc units follows a ruling by an Ohio federal judge that Minnesota's case would not interfere with a $5.2 million class-action settlement of similar claims. ‘Midland has perverted the justice system by filing robo-signed affidavits in court and hounding citizens for debt they don't owe,’ Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson said. ... Based in San Diego, Encore often buys debt from credit card companies. Through year-end, it had invested about $1.76 billion to buy 33 million accounts with a face value of $54.7 billion, or about 3 cents on the dollar. In her lawsuit filed in a Hennepin County, Minnesota, court, Swanson said Midland workers testified under oath to having signed up to 400 affidavits a day without reading them. She also said the Midland units ‘often force individual citizens to prove they do not owe money instead of themselves substantiating that the citizens actually owe the money.' " You wonder if the people who work at places like that have mirrors in their homes?

Kevin Seifert of ESPN follows a tip on the conflict over who gets naming rights money on the Arden Hills Vikings stadium: “In a financing bill submitted to the state legislature last month, state Sen. Julie Rosen and Rep. Morrie Lanning wrote that naming-rights revenue would go to the state. Specifically, it would be used for stadium debt service and maintenance. According to the Star Tribune, the bill counts that revenue as part of the state's $300 million contribution to the project. I've independently confirmed that important fact as well. However, in a 12-page memorandum of understanding (MOU) detailing its deal with Ramsey County, the Vikings wrote: 'All revenues (net of generally applicable taxes, fees, etc.) derived from the operations of the Stadium and parking facilities including signage, naming rights, etc. shall belong to the Team.' The economic downturn has slowed stadium naming-rights deals around the country, so it's difficult to pinpoint how much money we're talking about here. Over the past decade or so, deals for naming rights on new NFL stadiums have fallen in the range of $5 million to $10 million annually.”

Our Jay Weiner, more seriously than not, re-introduces the idea of a panel of wise men (and women) to decide where a stadium goes and at what ratios of cost: “Only one person of those five should be an elected official. (Let's pick Sen. Julie Rosen because she's been the leader of this effort. She's a Republican. She's from Greater Minnesota. She's an expert on the matter.) The other four must have architectural, public finance, sports business and/or development experience or knowledge. Ideally, they are local, but, perhaps a national expert from the Urban Land Institute or a dean of a nationally recognized school of architecture should be considered. How about a state Supreme Court justice? How about former Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission executive director and former Twins President Jerry Bell? How about Duane Benson, former Minnesota Business Partnership executive director and retired NFL star?”

Related stadia minutiae: The Kansas City firm that designed Target Field won an award. Kevin Collison of the KC Star says: “Target Field, the new Minnesota Twins ballpark designed by Kansas City-based Populous architects, has been named Sports Facility of the Year by a national sports business publication. The ballpark in downtown Minneapolis, which also has its own light-rail station, completed its first season last year. The award was announced Wednesday at a ceremony in New York City by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily. In winning the honor, Target Field topped three other Populous-designed sports facilities including the Arrowhead Stadium renovation project. The others were Amway Center, home of the Orlando Magic, and Consol Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. ... The honor by Street & Smith’s was the latest accolade for Target Field. It was named the number one stadium experience in all professional sport last year by ESPN the Magazine, and also was named 2010 Ballpark of the Year by Ballpark Digest.”

Like many GOP congresspeople, freshman Chip Cravaack has been getting an earful from riled-up constituents. Tara Bannow of the Strib reports: “Cravaack painted a grim picture of the consequences of current government spending. He said Americans don't have enough freedom when the nation's debt is owned by countries such as China. He said if spending doesn't change, the U.S. will end up facing the same economic issues as Greece and Portugal. ‘This is what we'll be handing off to our children or grandchildren if we don't do something now,’ Cravaack said. Terry Bell, 62, of Cambridge, criticized the slides for being inaccurate. He asked Cravaack to point out the last time Republicans produced a balanced budget. ‘Your party has added to the deficit ever since the Ford administration,’ Bell said. ‘The only time you get the least bit concerned is when the Democratic Party gets in.’ Other audience members defended Republicans and criticized spending under the Obama administration.”

Observing the event, the Duluth News Tribune delivers one of those “why bother,” on-the-one-hand-this-on-the-other-hand that editorials: “While a town hall meeting or two featuring Cravaack during the nearly-as-heated Medicare deliberations this winter would have been appreciated, Tuesday’s session set a positive and inclusive tone. At least in its intent. In its execution, the session deteriorated, disappointingly, with too much of the same sort of catcalling and shouting over opponents that marred last fall’s election season. To Cravaack’s credit, he called for civility, in particular when Iron Range legislative legend Joe Begich delivered an impassioned monologue that derided Republican proposals and that prompted shouts from the audience, as Janna Goerdt reported for the News Tribune. ‘Let’s everyone stay calm,’ Cravaack reportedly said. ‘We’re all Americans here.’ ‘There’s two Americas!’ someone called back. And maybe there are. But the more we meet and talk together in a civil manner and in the spirit of finding common ground, the better chance we have of finding compromise, of reaching actual solutions and of finding one America. We improve the likelihood of defeating the obstructive polarization of enough-already politics.”

Andy Aplikowski of the conservative “Residual Forces” blog doesn’t like the money T-Paw has sucked away from Minnesota candidates. “[W]ith Pawlenty’s intentions to run for President finally out in the open, he is once again going to the Minnesota wishing well of Republican donors. He held another high donor fundraiser last night in Minneapolis. The Pawlenty campaign is refusing to release totals, but its a sign that once again, Tim Pawlenty is looking for Minnesota campaign donors that he will take and use outside of the state. Pawlenty’s aspirations hurt Republicans and the uncourageous budget gimmicks he used, have left Republicans a huge mess to clean up. Will Pawlenty end up siphoning millions of dollars out of Minnesota that could be used to help defeat Sen. Klobuchar? Will our Congressional candidates be left out to dry due to donor fatigue by Pawlenty? Is Tim Pawlenty so determined to be President that he is going to risk Minnesota falling completely into the hands of the Democrats? If they get the State House & Senate, they will have 2 years with a radical in Governor Dayton. Congressman Chip Cravaack is already a target of Democrats. And if the courts end up drawing Congressional lines, they could radically alter the districts of Kline, Bachmann, & Paulsen.” Mark Dayton. Radical. I always love that one.