It's my Monday morning quarterbacking, Slats Grobnik take on news of the day with my promise to only use one sentence to comment on each story.
For you youngsters, Slats Grobnik was the composite character longtime Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko used to represent the "common man" if there is or was such a thing.
First story from MPR.
Dayton says Legislature is wasting time and money
Posted at 2:12 PM on September 20, 2011 by Tom Scheck (0 Comments)Gov. Mark Dayton says he's none too pleased that Republicans in the House and Senate plan to hold hearings to discuss whether Dayton has the legal authority to allow people working for in-home daycare providers to join unions.
Dayton has said he's considering an executive order that would allow for those employees to vote on union membership, but he said he hasn't made a final decision. Dayton said lawmakers' decision to hold hearings before he takes any action is a "political ploy" and a waste of taxpayer money.
"Why don't they start by reforming themselves and recognize that they're a part-time Legislature that has been in session overtime all the way until the latter part of July?"
And he mocked committee chairs for holding hearings across the state on job creation - just weeks after the Legislature left St. Paul following the three week government shutdown.
"They had six months and they did very little on job creation," Dayton said.
"And I'm taking the initiative now, and we're proactively engaged in it as we will be for the three and a half years. So you missed your chance back then folks when taxpayers were paying for your salaries and your per diems."
Comment: Mark Dayton is usually a very reasonable sounding-guy, but this change of pace is interesting, sounds meaner, like Obama recently.
Next story:
From Washington Post
A $16 muffin, government finds extravagant spending at Justice Dept.
At a Justice Department conference, auditors said Monday in a report that doesn’t come close to topping the Pentagon’s legendary $400 hammer and $600 toilet seat but does, the auditors said, expose “wasteful or extravagant spending.’’
Cynthia Schnedar, the Justice Department’s acting inspector general, said in the report that some conferences featured “costly meals, refreshments and themed breaks” and that Justice failed to “minimize” costs as required by federal and internal guidelines.
Among the examples: Beef Wellington hors d’oeuvres at $7.32 per serving; a Cracker Jacks, popcorn and candy snack for $32 per person and coffee costing more than $1 per ounce, making a single cup $8.24.
And the $16 muffins? They were served at a 2009 legal training conference in Washington by Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. The report describes the $4,200 spent on 250 muffins and $2,880 on 300 cookies and brownies
Comment: As a taxpayer, I feel they're making progress, only spending $16 on muffins versus $400 on a hammer.
My favorite "Tweet" of the day from former Strib columnist and longtime Twin Cities journalist Nick Coleman.
"10 ways journalists can use Twitter... now, if we could just get journalists to try journalism... http://j.mp/qVEJSs"
As I journalist I'm bowing to all the new waves of technology helping us do our jobs, believe me, but someone has to point out "journalism" is still the main job.
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