There's nothing better than using a choice of sex offenders or parks to try to embarrass a political opponent. See below the fold for details.
Here's the background:
In January 2012, openly gay Minnesota State Senator Scott Dibble lodged a point of inquiry prior to GOP Senator and Reverend Dan Hall's turn to perform the daily ecumenical prayer prior to that day's floor session. The prayer was called the First Congressional Prayer
The Point of Inquiry was to remind the body that prayers should be designed and broad enough by Senate Rules to appeal to people of all faiths. The prayer sheet had been passed out to the body and Rev-Senator Hall had delivered a brief history lesson on the prayer. The prayer was a historical prayer delivered in 1774. The Republican President of the Senate in this video takes Senator Dibble's advice and passes it to the chamber with a gentle reminder.
Please keep in mind the Minnesota House was still reeling from the year before when Bradlee Dean used a "prayer" to infer President Obama was not a Christian.
Whether the inquiry had any merit or not, Senator/Pastor Hall took great offense at this objection. Hall took the video of the confrontation and uploaded it under his Youtube account
Link here
Telling is the comments on the You Tube video left by his brother and former Senate Candidate Patrick Hall
Patrick Hall 1 year ago
Sen. Dibble is a clergy bully! In actuality, he is attacking all religions and all spiritual leaders. His spiritual prejudice goes beyond Christianity. He uses section 16 inappropriately. Dibble's interpretation is so disingenuous that he owes Senator Hall and the Minnesota Senate a public apology.
and
Patrick Hall 1 year ago
By George, I think you've got it! This is Senator Hall's whole idea here. We must stop men like Senator Dibble from trampling on our constitutional rights. Of course a Muslim senator is free to pray to Allah. And that freedom is also extended to a prayer from a senator who is a follower of Rev Sun Myung Moon. Sen. Dibble and people like him try to intimidate and bully the clergy of all religions by both quoting and interpreting our constitution to eliminate God based upon their preference.
Fast forward one year, you might think the Pastor might turn the other cheek and move on. You might think that the two senators would, in the spirit of collegiality, put their differences aside and work for the people.
You thought wrong.
Senator Dan Hall is a vehemently anti-gay legislator. Mr Hall appeared at a press conference stating that he would rather go to jail than marry a gay couple. He has also pondered on Twitter, that people not supporting the 2012 Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage were not patriotic citizens. My diary here
At the recent committee meeting on Senator Scott Dibble's bill to gay marriage bill, Senator Hall complained that he was a victim because he had been called names and his religious values were being trampled on.
Patch.com
"One (person who testified in support of the bill) said if I don't agree with same sex marriage I must be a bully? They're already name-calling?" Hall said "I have a problem with that. I can't tell you how many letters and tweets I've gotten saying 'You're a bigot' because you disagree."
"I'm trying to be a nice guy but I have an opinion," Hall continued.
Though Hall prefaced his comments by stating that "we want to treat everyone with love and respect," but he implied that homosexual marriages would be harmful to children. Marriage is "about kids," Hall said raising them to be happy, healthy and productive, though he did not explain why he thought homosexual couples might somehow detract from this stated goal. Marriage between a man and a woman, he said, is "based on truth and values that men and women are complimentary."
A day after the hearing Senator Hall's twitter account suddenly went on fire:
two days ago
Tweets
I am guessing that Senator Hall once again wanted to submit the same prayer and was denied by the DFL majority. More on the sex offenders after the fold.......
The Star Tribune has the rest of the story
Two days ago, The same openly gay Senator Scott Dibble introduced a bill on the Senate floor to authorize the City of Minneapolis to charge new housing developments fees to build new nearby parks. This type of fee is common across the country and the bill was thought to be fairly non controversial....That is unless you have a personal beef with someone whom you feel has stomped on one's ability to worship as a Christian.
Dan Hall rose to offer 3 amendments. The first amendment changed the "may charge a fee", to "must charge a fee", even though it it the local city council that determines if a fee is needed. Dibble's response was
"if this is so important, why didn't you talk to me beforehand?
This was voted down along party lines.
Amendment two would prevent fees from being charged to veterans.
The response from Dibble was
"Veterans also benefit from parks."
The amendment was voted down.
The third amendment: (from the Star Tribune)
An amendment proposed by Sen. Dan Hall, R-Burnsville, would have prevented the city from charging developers a fee for parks built within 1,500 feet of a registered sex offender. Republicans successfully added that same amendment to the House version of the bill two weeks ago.
About 70 communities in the area already impose the fees. The sex offender restriction would only apply in Minneapolis, however.
Rather than face 2-3 hours of Republican debate and a demagogic outcome (DFL is voting to allow sex offenders living near parks) Senator Dibble asked for the bill to be laid on the table to allow for their busy schedule of committee hearings to proceed.
Senator Dibble called the amendment "ridiculous".
Judge for yourself, is Senator Dan Hall acting in the best interest of his constituents?