Minnesota's state government shut down Thursday night, as the GOP-controlled legislature and Dem. Gov. Mark Dayton failed to reach a last-minute agreement on a state budget. Up to 23,000 state workers will be laid off as a result.
The effects were already being felt Thursday afternoon, as state parks were being shuttered and many state agencies pulled the plug on their websites. State employees were told to take plants home with them, since there's no telling when they will be allowed to return to their jobs.
Republicans and Dayton long ago reached an impasse over how to deal with a projected $5 billion deficit. Dayton offered a plan utilizing both cuts to services and an increased tax rate for the state's richest 2 percent (who already pay a lower percentage of state tax than other residents). GOPers -- who won control of the legislature in 2010 for the first time in years -- insisted on cuts only.
Dayton has been steadfast in his refusal to accept the GOP's brutal budget plan, whose cuts fell most heavily on the middle class and the state's most vulnerable residents.
As the evening stretched on, and it became increasingly obvious Dayton would hold firm, Republicans huddled at the capitol for a "sit-in," trying to portray themselves as ready to go to work immediately if only Dayton would call them into special session. It was without doubt the most sordid moment of this sorry affair.
The Republicans were obviously already beginning to fear retribution from voters. After all, when you're blatantly ripping off 98 percent of the electorate, it's tough to hold on to office.
Thu Jun 30, 2011 at 11:41 PM PT: UPDATE: Apparently the GOP's little "sit-in" wasn't their most pitiful act today. The StarTribune is now reporting that Republicans "jeered and hissed" at Dayton during a late-night address. Dayton said his last offer would only have raised taxes on those making more than $1 million a year, or about .3 percent of all taxpayers. And for that, the GOP shut down state government and services.