The lege goes home

The special session is over at the Minnesota legislature and the governor promises to sign all the bills:

Dayton said he will sign the agriculture and environment bill, even though he described it as “still a bad bill” and many DFL lawmakers opposed it. He said he regrets that it included the House GOP provision to eliminate the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens’ Board. Dayton said he will push to restore the board in 2017.

“It’s not going to set environmental progress back in Minnesota, because I won’t let it.”

So where do things stand now that the dust is settling? A few thoughts:

• Kurt Daudt did a very good job. Yes, it would have been nice to secure a tax cut in this session and it would have been ideal to roll back spending, but that wasn't going to happen. Daudt held his ground on a gas tax increase and stopped Education Minnesota's hostile takeover of the preschool industry. Rebecca Otto now has to earn her keep. That's a pretty good record. He had to negotiate with Dayton and with Tom Bakk and held his own with both. I don't know of anyone else in the legislature who would have done a better job.
• Tom Bakk is getting a lot of grumbling from the Metrocrats, but I suspect he'll be fine. Lori Sturdevant floated the idea of John Marty as a potential replacement for Bakk, but I don't see that happening. Bakk is a survivor.
• Dayton is a lame duck. Will he take his ball and go home? We saw quite a lot of Tina Smith over the last month, which wasn't coincidental. I wouldn't be surprised if Dayton resigns before the lege returns to town next winter.