Dayton says no one's happy with the deal. Are you?

​Mark Dayton announced the deal to end the state shutdown by saying that no one would be happy. The Republican leaders didn't sound thrilled either.

The deal borrows money to pay for the budget, and doesn't raise taxes on anyone. It ends a two-week shutdown that had 22,000 Minnesota employees out of work, and had left highways without necessary construction and forced hikers in state parks to poop in the woods.

So, what do you think? Did Dayton have to make this deal?

Take City Pages' poll, and sound off in the comments section with what you think about the deal that ends the longest state shutdown in modern U.S. history.
More >>

The shutdown ended not with a bang, but with a shrug.

​After two weeks of gridlock and three hours locked in his office, Mark Dayton and Republican leaders emerged yesterday with a deal to end the state shutdown. The governor forced a tight grin as he stepped to the microphone, announcing the deal in a downbeat tone.

"We are committed," he said, "to working together over the next few hours and couple days to get this nailed down so we have it ready to go to a special session as soon as possible, which will be very soon."

After that uninspired statement, Dayton went for symbolism, offering control to the Republicans 30 seconds into his most important press conference as governor.More >>

Mark Dayton wants you to use Iowa's toilets.

​Mark Dayton is taking all the blame for the state shutdown in a new billboard ad campaign.

With his head looking slightly too big for the body it's on, Dayton is shown presenting a series of shutdown-related images in the style of a "Price is Right" girl. The billboards, paid for by conservative agitators Minnesota Majority, make Dayton seem wholly responsible for the fact that state parks and rest areas are closed.
More >>

Dayton disses the "Good Neighbor"

​It was pretty clear yesterday that Gov. Mark Dayton felt like he was getting dissed by the five news organizations that offered him a weekly radio show. None offered him the audience and reach he thought he deserved.

Today he singled out WCCO-AM for particular scorn because it had "afforded two previous governors the opportunity to be at a decent hour and decided not to extend that same opportunity to me."

More >>

Dayton gives the rich a much-needed break.

​If you're making more than $500,000 a year, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Mark Dayton says he's not going to make your already tough economic situation any worse by requiring you to pay a little more in taxes.

That bit of relief comes thanks to news from Minnesota's Management and Budget office, which declared today that the projected state deficit had fallen to $5 billion from $6.2 billion.

More >>

Mark Dayton supports unions in Wisconsin.

​Gov. Mark Dayton told about 1,000 pro-union demonstrators in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday that he'd block any attempt by Republican legislators to pass a union-busting bill similar to the one raising a ruckus in Wisconsin.

That bill, being pushed by a Republican governor through a Republican-controlled Assembly, would strip most public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights.

More >>

Firefighters could still be laid off if LGA takes a hit in the final budget.

​If the state budget proposed by Gov. Mark Dayton today were to pass, Minneapolis firefighters could avoid layoffs this year.

Last fall, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said the city would be forced to lay off firefighters to make ends meet if the next governor proposed cutting Local Government Aid.

Dayton's plan would keep LGA intact, meaning the city would be able to achieve cuts through attrition and retiring incentives, according to Rybak's plan.

More >>

Dayton offers a plan that calls for new taxes.

​After nixing the Legislature's proposed $900 million in budget cuts last week with his veto pen, Gov. Mark Dayton submitted his own proposal today for balancing the state's budget, complete with a promised tax hike on the wealthiest among us.

More >>

Dayton issues his first veto.

​The Republican-controlled Legislature sent DFL Gov. Mark Dayton a $900 million budget-cutting bill today, after no public hearings and with no Democratic support, and he wasted no time in striking it down with his veto pen.

He lambasted it as an effort to protect wealthy Minnesotans while boosting property taxes on everyone else.

More >>

Screen grab via TheUptake.

Mark Dayton lays out the bad news.

​Gov. Mark Dayton used his first State of the State speech to summon the unity of post 9/11 America under George W. Bush, extol the Minnesota Miracle, and urge Republicans controlling the Minnesota Legislature to work together for the common good.

Then, in the spirit of bipartisanship, he ran through a laundry list of economic ills that he didn't directly blame on former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, but he might as well have.

More >>