Feb 06 Anderson v. Rosen

During Gov. Dayton’s ill-tempered diatribe, he said that Republicans were “unfit to govern” because they didn’t confirm the appointment of Ellen Anderson, a longtime DFL/environmental activist, to be the Commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission. The reality is that Gov. Dayton isn’t fit to govern.

His bombastic diatribe sounded more like a spoiled 3-year-old brat who didn’t get his way than it sounded like something a governor of a state.

Despite Gov. Dayton’s childish accusations, Sen. Julie Rosen’s explanation of why she voted against Sen. Anderson’s confirmation as PUC Commissioner is perfectly reasonable:

SEN. JULIE ROSEN: I would very much like to confirm former colleagues to administration positions. It is rare that I object to their appointment. But in this case, I cannot support the nomination of this nominee. Ellen Anderson was a motivated legislator. She served with many of us and we know her to be very passionate with very strong beliefs about how energy resources should be developed.

Those same passions manifest themselves into a management style that leaved little room for open discussion and compromise and in the context of the PUC and the regulation of all of our utility industries, that deeply concerns me.

Her advocacy was well-suited for her work in this body but I do not believe that it is appropriate for the Commission and I do not think it is in the best interest of Minnesotans. Over the long-term, I do not believe that her sitting on the PUC would be beneficial to ratepayers of our state.

I look at a public career that has demonized traditional energy sources. I look at derogatory references to “dirty and dangerous fossil fuels” or energy cartels that do not reflect well on the nominee.

We all know that there is always work to be done to move things forward. Outright rejections of energy that built this country and helped foster the highest living standards in this world is irresponsible.

There isn’t room for activists in the executive branch. If Gov. Dayton wants his appointees confirmed, he should stop appointing activists to regulatory positions.

Gov. Dayton should stop his temper tantrums. He looks like a spoiled brat when he does that. Gov. Dayton shouldn’t expect Paul Aasen to be routinely confirmed either. Aasen is Gov. Dayton’s appointee to be the Commissioner of the MPCA. He’s also the environmental activist who sued the investors for the Big Stone II power plant until they gave up.

Then he bragged that he and other Big Environment groups had defeated the project. That’s in addition to other city and county projects that MCEA litigated into the ground, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits.

PS- That money wasn’t for awards. That’s just the attorney fees for fighting MCEA’s frivolous lawsuits.

If Gov. Dayton’s MPCA appointee gets rejected, he’d better not throw another temper tantrum or he’ll get hit with a major document dump showing Minnesota that his appointees are radical activists.

Comments welcome at Let Freedom Ring.