Governor Dayton to take public funds for 2014 campaign

Not to mention he has a lot less cash after funding his 2010 run … . Tom Scheck, at MPR, reports, “Gov. Mark Dayton said Friday he has agreed to take public financing for his campaign,” which limits his personal contribution to $20,000 in return for $450,000 from taxpayers. There’s a $3.6 million overall spending limit, though that can be broken if someone like, say, Scott Honour, massively fundraises from the GOP side.

The first order of business is … make them know your name. But at KSTP-TV, Tom Hauser reports, “In online questionnaires with 1,621 Minnesota registered voters, 55 percent said they were ‘not familiar’ with Julianne Ortman, a state Senator running for the U.S. Senate. … Businessman Mike McFadden, state Representative Jim Abeler and St. Louis County Commissioner Chris Dahlberg are ‘not familiar’ to 61 percent of Minnesota voters. ‘To have such a wide slate of Republican candidates who no one knows about is unusual and creates a steep uphill battle just to get your name out there’, says Larry Jacobs of the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute.”

An iPad for every child … . Mila Koumpilova of the PiPress writes, “Dell and the [St. Paul school] district agreed this week to scuttle an almost $4.3 million contract to design a new online home for the district’s digital learning tools. A year and $715,000 into the project, it became clear the learning platform would not work as well or at least as soon as the two partners had hoped. Meanwhile, the district is finalizing a new deal with Apple to provide an iPad tablet for each student by 2015.”

The heavy hand of gummint … has been retracted. Mike Durkin at KMSP-TV reports, “Minneapolis Park Police have dismissed a citation against Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate Chris Holbrook, determining an officer ‘misapplied’ an ordinance. Holbrook was at Lake Calhoun on Thursday, gathering signatures to gain ballot access, when he and 3 volunteers were approached by police. An officer cited Holbrook for violation of Park Board Ordinance PB2-15, ‘use of parks, parkways and waters for financial gain’. The incident and citation were reviewed by Park Police Chief Jason Ohotto, who determined the officer “erred and misapplied the ordinance.”

Or maybe this will be an easier sell … ? Sarah Smith of the Forum News Service says, “A citizens group seeking to protect the region’s natural resources has come up with two alternative routes for Enbridge Corp.’s proposed Sandpiper oil pipeline. The group, Friends of the Headwaters, has submitted the plans to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Both proposals skirt lake country in central Minnesota, particularly Hubbard County, and one nearly bypasses the state entirely.”

Why I stick to cars … . The WCCO-TV story says, “A 44-year-old man and a 43-year-old woman were both killed after their motorcycle crashed into a van west of Cambridge, Minn. Thursday evening. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, the crash happened along Highway 95. The van was traveling eastward on the highway when it attempted to make a U-turn from the right shoulder … . The State Patrol said that the motorcycle, which was also traveling east, was directly behind the van and crashed into it just behind the driver’s door.”

This week’s big bank fraud settlement pay-out … . Says Jennifer Bjorhus in the Strib, “Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $62.5 million to settle class action claims by a group of retirement funds that the bank breached its fiduciary duty and engaged in fraud in its securities lending program. The settlement announced Friday is the latest finale in a series of high-stakes cases against the bank over a largely defunct program that was managed out of Minneapolis.” And each case was an innocent oversight, I’m quite certain.

MPR’s Catharine Richert asks what this weekend’s state political convention endorsements are actually good for.  “ … if candidates plan to compete in the primary, is the party endorsement still relevant? [Gubernatorial hopeful Dave] Thompson says it is. … ‘In an ideal world, would it be preferable that we didn’t have primaries? Sure,’ Thompson added. ‘Would that be better for the party system itself? Maybe in the short run. But in the long run, if we can defend our endorsed candidates and win elections, the party will be just fine.’”