A bill that would reopen financial data for Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board activities successfully passed the state legislature yesterday and is expected to be signed by Gov. Dayton.
The daylight provision in the omnibus tax bill was the work of Rep. Tom Anzelc, who managed to find enough Republican support for repealing the 2008 privacy restrictions which were tucked into a conference committee bill without public debate. This means that the public will now have access to reports on how IRRRB funds, which are derived from production taxes that mines pay in lieu of local property taxes, are spent when disbursed to private companies.
As you can see in the Peter Passi story in the Duluth News Tribune, most Range leaders now acknowledge that this change will not prevent businesses from working with the IRRRB or affect any jobs. It’s just good government.
Congratulations to my friend Rep. Anzelc. This might be a small matter to some, but he had no support for this at times. I am quite biased regarding this story; I’ve worked with Tom on this for some time. But if you wonder why I haven’t been able to separate myself entirely from partisan political activity, it’s because of efforts like this. I’m proud to run Tom’s campaigns and we’re looking forward to a good one here in 2012.
Thanks to the legislators of both parties who helped Tom pass this bill, Gov. Dayton, and to Passi and the Duluth News Tribune for maintaining steady pressure on officials to do the right thing.
While I do applaud the daylight provision, I wonder what motivated Anzelc to vote for that foul-smelling stadium bill. [On that issue I find myself in the unaccustomed position of full agreement with Ranger47.] Any insight, Aaron?
CJH,
I think Anzelc is first and foremost a building trades guy. He likes construction projects. Also, a lot of DFL’ers felt backed into a corner with this one. Many of them felt it was the only “Jobs” bill that could pass.
I agree with you CJH. It was painful to see some of the folks voting yes. I expected Anzelc to vote yes. I did not expect to see people like Carlos Mariani voting yes. Or, Winkler for that matter.
I can’t speak for Tom on this one. I can say that T’s logic is essentially the argument as it was distilled for labor Democrats. It was the closest thing to a jobs bill anyone got to vote for. As distasteful as it was to prioritize the stadium ahead of other things, it was the only thing that had votes to pass. Further, the public letters and comments on the issue were overwhelming and, among them, overwhelmingly in favor of a “yes” vote. Tom’s vote was his own and I understand it. I do not know what I would have done had I been in his position.