Good morning, and welcome to Monday.
A Republican state senator's residency is under scrutiny as he seeks a new term in a neighboring district. MPR's Brian Bakst reports first-term lawmaker Gene Dornink said he moved this year to avoid facing a fellow Republican incumbent after new district boundaries were set. Now a court is being asked to decide whether he appropriately established residency in a new southern Minnesota district. A petition filed Thursday in the state Supreme Court alleges that Dornink hasn't actually moved from Hayfield to Brownsdale and cites observations by a detective and others. By law, Minnesota legislators must live in the district they seek to represent at least six months prior to Election Day. Dornink calls the complaint "frivolous" and said he expects it to be dismissed. At least one of those included in the petition has ties to Dornink's challenger in the Republican primary, Lisa Hanson, a restaurant owner who was convicted of defying COVID-19 shutdown orders.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen said Friday he supports allowing women to have abortions in cases of rape and incest and when the "mental or physical health" of a pregnant woman is in jeopardy. That's a change from Jensen's earlier statements on the issue. In March, Jensen told MPR News he would try to ban abortion outright if the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade. In May he said he did not support exemptions. Jensen and his running mate Matt Birk released a 10-point plan they say is designed to support and protect women. It includes a family and maternity leave program; an adoption tax credit of at least $2,500; and increased funding for crisis pregnancy centers. They didn't release details of how much the plan would cost or how it would be paid for. Jensen also said that he supports the restrictions that were recently struck down by a Ramsey County judge and he faulted Attorney General Keith Ellison for not appealing the decision. In a video on social media, Jensen said some of his previous statements on abortion may have been "clumsy."
For the first time since 2003, Moody's has rated Minnesota as AAA, Gov. Tim Walz said Friday. Standard & Poor's confirmed its AAA rating for Minnesota as well, Walz said. "Minnesota is in a strong financial position," Walz said in a release. "Careful fiscal management, a diverse economy, record low unemployment, and strong financial reserves put us at the threshold of what relatively few states have, AAA bond ratings across the board."
Walz and Jensen meet for their first forum of the campaign on Wednesday at FarmFest in Redwood County.
Minnesota election officials are facing a wave of public distrust, even though there is absolutely no evidence of any widespread problems.The Star Tribune looked at it on Sunday: Distrust stemming from former President Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election has rippled across the nation and landed on the doorstep of the thousands of Minnesotans who run elections in all 87 counties. It's forcing many state and local election officials to juggle two jobs: administering the upcoming election while responding to concerns and debunking misinformation stemming from the last one. "Even at a large county like Hennepin, it's like one county versus an entire internet of bubbling misinformation. Sometimes it feels like it's a whack-a-mole," said Hennepin County Elections Manager Ginny Gelms. "It is a thing we're very concerned about becoming a greater and greater issue."
The failure by the Legislature and governor to enact a public works construction bill this year might save money in the short term but could end up costing the taxpayers more in the long run.The Pioneer Press has the story: Minnesota Management and Budget officials estimated the state will pay an estimated $13.5 million less on debt service during this fiscal year than it would have if the bonding bill that Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders tentatively agreed to in June had passed, MMB spokesman Patrick Hogan said last week. But many of the projects in that package will still need to be built, and they will cost more in the future because of rising construction costs. The Associated General Contractors of America recently estimated, based on federal data, that construction input prices for materials and services increased 16.8 percent since June 2021.
And the Star Tribune had a profile of 1st District Republican candidate Brad Finstad: Finstad, 46, served in the Minnesota House from 2003 to 2009. His work in the years since includes time as executive director of the Center for Rural Policy and Development, a tenure as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's state director for rural development in Minnesota during the Trump administration and a leading role with the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association. He and his family own and operate the agronomy company Frontier Labs and have a farm growing soybeans and corn, according to Finstad's campaign. "He's a principled man," said Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Glenn Thompson, the leading House Republican on the agriculture committee, who endorsed Finstad early in his primary bid. "I think Minnesota would add another excellent member of Congress should he be elected." | 
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