Meanwhile, closer to home

While it's been easy to get engrossed (pun intended) in the antics of the Amalgamated Protest Union in Madison, the budgetary tango is starting to heat up in St. Paul. We learned at least one thing yesterday that is good to know.

First, the revenue forecast was off a little. Turns out the state took in more than a billion dollars than expected last year. That's billion. While I don't think that means that Brave Sir Mark Dayton will call off the ballyhooed financial commando raids in the Scrooge McDuck redoubts on Lake Minnetonka, Sunfish Lake and the like, especially since his real quarry lives in places like Plymouth and Maple Grove, it does mean that some of the assumptions at play are equally suspect.

Second, as Mitch Berg notes, it also meant that Tom Emmer was right about the actual state of finances. And Dayton, unsurprisingly, was wrong.

Mitch also noted something else -- Mark Dayton's 2-week old budget proposal is a bit of an orphan:

The proposal, which jacks up taxes on “the rich” by adding the highest state income tax in the nation on people who make over half a million a year, stil has no DFL sponsor in the legislature.

You'd think our local representative Kate Knuth would just love to support this, but oddly she hasn't stepped up to the plate. Or Mindy Greiling for that matter. Surely Barb Goodwin and/or John Marty would love the opportunity to fly the Dayton flag. Proud DFLers all, but nowhere to be found.

It could be that our DFL friends are following in the lead of their Wisconsin contemporaries and refusing to do the job, although they are saving on hotel expenses. That's something.

Mitch, with tongue only partially in cheek, has a modest proposal:

I think a Republican – one from a very, very safe seat – should do the job for them.

I think a Republican from a bullet-proof rural seat should sponsor the Dayton budget (and spend the next year explaining why – and yes, I will drive to wherever he or she serves and go door to door to help, if need be – just to help avoid any complications).

And I think the GOP-controlled committees involved should pass it right through, so it can go to the floor immediately for a binding, highly-publicized, up-or-down vote.

I think we should let the DFL show their pride in and support for Governor Dayton. I think they should show how unified they are!

I think we should let the DFL walk the walk. I think we should let them all, every one of them, show how happy they are to make you pay for A Better Minnesota.

C'mon, Kate Knuth! You can't let some backbencher from the woods steal your thunder! Fly the flag!