Will state’s biggest employer give us biggest layoff ever?

AFTERNOON EDITION

Mark Sommerhauser of the St. Cloud Times reminds readers that shutting down the government, essentially over a dispute of excessive spending, will incur otherwise unnecessary costs. He writes: “One of Minnesota’s largest public employee unions says the state could be on the hook for as much as $50 million in payments to laid-off workers if state government shuts down. That’s according to the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, which represents about 13,000 professional state workers. … MAPE also predicts hefty costs to state coffers if Republicans who control the Legislature and Dayton, a DFLer, can’t reach terms by July 1. The potential payments to laid-off workers reportedly could include severance, accrued vacation and compensatory payments, according to Richard Kolodziejski, legislative affairs director for MAPE. Kolodziejski said the payments are stipulated under MAPE workers’ labor agreement with the state in the event that the workers are laid off. Similar stipulations are written into state agreements with other unions, he said.” This sounds like one for Scott Walker.

To hammer the point, Martin Moylan of MPR reports: “If Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature fail to agree on a state budget by June 30, it could lead to what would arguably be the largest single layoff in state history. State government is the largest single employer in Minnesota. There are about 35,000 employees working for various state agencies under the executive branch. That doesn’t include some 4,000 people working in state courts and higher education. An exhaustive report produced by Minnesota Management and Budget sheds light on the state workforce. Last year, the total compensation of executive branch employees — including health and retirement benefits — amounted to $2.4 billion. That provides a significant kick to the state economy. But there’s another way to look at that payroll, said Ed Lotterman, an economist at Augsburg College. ‘People who are skeptical about government would say, “Yes, but those same people, if they were working in the private sector, would be earning similar amounts of money and that would be adding to consumption and savings, also,” ‘  Lotterman said. ‘And they would say the money wouldn’t be coming out of taxpayers’ pockets.’ ” Damn straight! Because McDonald’s and Wal-Mart are “jobs providers,” you know.

If you like conspiracy theories, you always have to ask yourself who benefits most from some man-made calamity? In the case of Minnesota’s budget gridlock, the ad and television and newspaper industries will do quite well, thank you. Bob Von Sternberg’s Strib story today says: “Advocates for Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget stand and Republican legislators’ alternative have launched dueling ad campaigns that could end up costing $1 million or more. On Dayton’s side, the liberal Alliance for a Better Minnesota is targeting a dozen GOP legislators with radio, cable TV and online ads, urging the lawmakers’ constituents to prod their representatives to back the governor’s plan to increase income taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents. Taking counterpoint is the Coalition of Minnesota Businesses, which has been running print ads in 33 newspapers across the state that thank the 55 members of the House and Senate who resisted any tax increases to close the state’s gaping budget deficit. The efforts are just the first volleys in what is expected to be a ferocious public relations effort to win over the hapless bystanders in all this budget wrangling: average Minnesotans.”

A non-scientific Strib poll on Gov. Dayton’s mediation idea was running 59 percent to 40 percent in favor as of mid-afternoon.

If nothing else will, this’ll keep the riffraff away. There is STILL a heap of dirty snow in St. Paul from our last … interminable, godawful, what-did-we-do-to-deserve-that winter. Richard Chin of the PiPress writes: “Despite the fact that it’s June and the forecast calls for temperatures to climb close to 90 degrees today, you can still have a snowball fight (a really dirty snowball fight) and slide down a snow hill (a really short slide) right here in St. Paul. In the parking lot of the Sears store on Rice Street, a gigantic white hill rose during the winter as truckloads of snow were hauled from state parking lots around the Capitol. And it hasn’t completely melted away. During the depths of the fourth-snowiest winter on record for the Twin Cities, the Sears Alps was a steep, jagged, 60-foot-tall heap of snow. It even became a bit of a tourist attraction, with people frequently stopping to marvel and take photographs of the mini-mountain with half-buried Christmas trees, orange traffic cones and wooden pallets sticking out of it. Today, the snow pile is a disgusting shadow of its former self — an icy mound a few feet high covered with dirt mixed with garbage, bits of concrete and the odd lost winter glove — melting away like the Wicked Witch of the West.”

Yesterday it was the (Wisconsin) guy filling balloons with acetylene gas — which then exploded, burning an 18-year-old girl. Today it’s this, via the AP: “A northern Wisconsin camp director is accused of videotaping young girls in the shower and stealing from the operation. The former executive director of Camp Fire USA in Oneida County, Jeremy Fadoul, is charged with two felonies that carry a maximum 13 years in prison upon conviction. Authorities say Fadoul linked the camp’s bank account with a PayPal account and withdrew more than $40,000. Prosecutors say when investigators searched Fadoul’s home they found videos on his computer which showed camp girls in the shower — some with bathing suits, some without.”

Needless to say, we do not want our great and glorious neighbors to the east to catch wind of this. Richard Chin (again) of the PiPress writes about the city’s second … bar on wheels: “Is this town big enough for two pedal-powered rolling beer bars on wheels? We’ll find out as the City Cycle squares off against the PedalPub cruising down Grand Avenue at about 5 mph this summer trying to capture the movable bar-hopping, team-building, bachelorette-party business in St. Paul. The first pedal-driven multiseat vehicle with a bar, keg and a beer tap was originally developed in Holland and brought to the United States in 2007 by a couple of Twin Cities entrepreneurs, Al Boyce and Eric Olson. They set up a business called PedalPub, giving tours on their 16-passenger vehicle in the Twin Cities and importing the Dutch design to sell to tour companies in other cities. Boyce and Olson also got a change in the Minnesota law allowing beer consumption by passengers in a pedal-driven vehicle powered by five or more people.”

Film-as-art lovers have been anticipating “Tree of Life,” from enigmatic filmmaker Terrence Malick for years. It opens today, with Bill Pohlad’s named attached as producer. Euen Kerr of MPR interviewed actress Jessica Chastain and writes: “Pohlad’s controversial new film “The Tree of Life” opens in Minnesota this weekend. It recently won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and drew raves from some critics. Others found it mystifying and even pretentious. … To prepare for her role, Malick had Chastain [study] paintings of the Madonna at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He also had her listen to the early work of Lauren Bacall to learn how to speak in measured tones. She also meditated and read extensively about states of grace. Chastain said making ‘The Tree of Life’ was draining, but is grateful for the experience. And she credits producer Pohlad for the chance. ‘He is such a smart, intelligent, passionate person about cinema,’ she said. ‘And he kind of went out on a limb and put me in this film — of course, along with Terrence Malick.’ Pohlad, son of the late Twins owner Carl Pohlad, has a string of hits to his name, including ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Into the Wild.’ While ‘The Tree of Life’ has drawn critical acclaim and some notoriety, it now faces the real test at the box office. Chastain said she likes that it’s the kind of a movie that sparks debate. ‘You either love them or you hate them, and it’s not just this kind of lukewarm, ‘Oh, I had a hard day at work, I’m going to go home and watch ‘The Tree of Life,’  she smiled. ‘This film absolutely requires that you walk in with an open heart and an open mind and participate in the movie experience.’ ” In other words, the anti-”Transformers 3.”

The state GOP’s inability/unwillingness to reimburse several Minnesota counties a paltry $3000 for expenses  related to the Tom Emmer recount last fall is  pretty snicker-inducing. MnPublius blogger Jeff Rosenberg rips away, saying: “The next time you hear Senate GOP Communications Director Michael Brodkorb talk about the irresponsible spending going on in state government, ask him why the Minnesota Republican Party (of which he is Deputy Chair) refuses to pay its debts. At least the county governments have learned their lessons: never trust a Republican. Some counties asked the party for money up front, she said, which is ‘probably what we’ll have to do in the future.’ [Winona County auditor treasurer Sue] Rivers said she would also likely charge up front for future requests.” And considering the rampant voter fraud afoot in the state, you know she’ll be asked again.

RIP, Marshal Dillon. James Arness, the Minneapolis native who kept law and order in Dodge City for 20 years in the legendary “Gunsmoke” TV series, died today. He was 88.