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| Date: | February 1, 2012 | | Contact Name: | Peter Winiecki | | Contact Phone: | 651-297-8077 | | Contact Email: | peter.winiecki@senate.mn | | For Immediate Release | |
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| Deputy Majority Leader Julianne Ortman's (R-Chanhassen) Statement in Response to Governor Dayton’s Monday Afternoon News Conference |
St. Paul – Deputy Majority Leader Julianne Ortman (R-Chanhassen) offered the following statement in response to Governor Dayton’s comments during his Monday afternoon news conference:
Governor Dayton’s decision to nominate Senator Ellen Anderson as Chair of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) was very controversial when he made it in March 2011. She did not fare well last spring when the Senate Energy Committee considered her confirmation. Chair Anderson and the Governor have known for more than a year that she was not likely to be confirmed. There were no surprises, and our public review of her record has been respectful at all times. In the Senate we take very seriously our responsibility to carry out confirmations. It is a very important element of the separation of powers. We will consider 27 of the Governor’s nominees in a review of their capabilities and competence to perform. The Governor’s nomination of Senator Anderson ranks among the most controversial.
The chair of the Public Utilities Commission has an important mission: it is a quasi-judicial function intended to maintain cost-effective utility services in the state. Senator Anderson’s agenda to impose renewable energy standards and increasingly burdensome emissions standards and to oppose traditional energy sources translates into higher energy costs for Minnesotans. Her political agenda regarding energy issues, in my view, disqualifies her from serving as Chair because the interests of the ratepayers in securing efficient and affordable energy resources must be a prime consideration of the Public Utilities Commission. By declining her confirmation, the Senate did the right thing and for the right reasons. On the very same day, we did vote to confirm Governor Dayton’s nominations of Thomas Landwehr as Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, Ramona Dohman as Commissioner of Public Safety and Tom Sorel as Commissioner of Transportation.
Unfortunately, Governor Dayton used yesterday's news conference in response to the Senate's action to vent his frustration with the Senate Majority Caucus, and launched a gratuitous personal attack based on unrelated issues and inaccurate information. I can forgive him for his mistake, and his bizarre attack, but I do want to set the record straight.
The Governor was mistaken in stating that Xcel Energy’s property taxes went up $40 million statewide due to the changes in the Market Value Homestead Credit. To the contrary, Xcel Energy has stated that their “taxes are going up $40 million, due to a number of things such as our own investments, local tax rates, continued decline in the housing market, and the market Value Homestead Credit.” The article in the St. Cloud Times that Governor Dayton referred to does not exist, according to the editor of the St. Cloud Times.
I have been a member of the Minnesota Senate since 2003, and I know how important it is to build coalitions to advance legislation and to have initiatives signed into law. As far as I know, there is no lawmaker in St. Paul with the power to move bills through the committee process and change laws entirely on their own. Yet the Governor ascribed to me all of the power to eliminate the Market Value Homestead Credit and failed to mention the many stakeholder groups that supported the legislation (the Metro-Inter-County Association, the League of Minnesota Cities, the Association of Minnesota Counties and others), as well as the Chief Author in the House, the Chair of the House Tax Committee, the majority of the legislators that voted for it, his own Commissioner Frans who signed off on the bill, and completely ignored the fact that he himself signed the bill into law.
In fact, this year, property taxes went up an average of 2.4 percent for homeowners, as reported in December 2011. Overall, the total property tax increase this year has been smaller than the average over the last 10 years. Our local city and county partners also have exercised fiscal discipline out of concern for the tax burdens imposed on Minnesota families and businesses during these difficult economic times.
If I have all the power Governor Dayton believes I have, then I sure hope I can use it again to secure the phase-out and elimination of the statewide business property tax which would cut the tax burden for businesses of every size, in every community, and spur the economic growth we need in Minnesota and encourage businesses to expand, employ more folks, and invest in new capital or research and development. He vetoed that bill in 2011, but hopefully in 2012 he will do the right thing for the right reasons and sign this proposal into law.
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