The college kid in every legislator

Reading piles of papers you neglected when they were assigned, meeting frantically with study groups, pulling all-nighters – are you thinking of your college days yet? This week the inner college student in legislators seems to have emerged due to today’s first committee deadline.

All week committee hearings have stretched from early in the morning until late at night to accommodate the last-minute bills that still need to be approved by policy committees in order to be considered during the remainder of the session. Some legislators have even pulled all-nighters to keep up with the influx of bills that arrive in their offices.

While it certainly seems like a painful process for adult lawmakers to subject themselves to such torturous conditions, committee deadlines are important to keep the legislative process moving. Just like most college students, legislators appear unable to make progress unless there is a deadline looming over their heads.

Today is the time for legislators to fish or cut bait.

The Afghan troop surge meets Pentagon chartjunk

Edward Tufte coined the term chartjunk in his 1983 classic, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, to describe elements which “make the graphic appear more scientific and precise” than the data needs or allows. In government, chartjunk is regularly used by bureaucratic elites to justify their unique grasp of a perilous situation. But so often, it is also a graphic confession of confusion or bad thinking.

Take this recent example:


Afghan society is often characterized as a tangled web of tribal, religious, ethnic, economic, and other alliances. The U.S. Department of Defense visualizes the Obama troop surge in that difficult land as a similar tangle of programs, initiatives, and “stakeholders.”

Perhaps Alexander the Great, the Persians, the British Raj, and the Soviet army didn’t have enough flowcharts.

Hockeytown, USA springs to life

The melting of snow piles, the donning of lighter coats, walking instead of sprinting from the office to the car, and the crowds of hockey fans filling Saint Paul’s streets, bars, and restaurants mean one thing – hockey tournament season has arrived! Thousands of people will descend upon the city to cheer for their favorite hockey team in the boy’s high school state tournament, the WCHA Frozen Five, and the NCAA regional hockey championships.

In 2007, Sports Illustrated recognized Saint Paul as Hockeytown, USA. For Saint Paul, hockey is more than just the Minnesota Wild – it’s about the pickup games on the neighborhood pond, the peewee games at the community ice arena, and the high school games at the city rink. Even the Xcel Energy Center – the home of the Wild – displays the hockey jerseys of every high school in Minnesota in the outer concourse.

Hockey is more than just a game. It helps city businesses, bars and restaurants at a time when our economy needs a boost. These tournaments add an estimated $7-10 million a year to the city’s economy. Restaurants will be full, bars will be crowded, and people will be happy.

Welcome to Saint Paul, hockey tournament athletes, coaches, and fans.

See below for more information about the upcoming hockey tournaments:

• Boys state hockey tournament (March 10-13)
• WCHA Frozen Five (March 18-20)
• NCAA Division 1 Men’s Hockey Regional Tournament (March 26-27)
• Remaining home games for the Minnesota Wild

Minnesota’s indebtedness ranks in the middle of the 50 states

The orgy of public sector spending across the globe in recent years is coming home to roost. Speculation is now running rampant that the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) may drag down the EuroZone by mid-summer. The previously unspeakable or unimaginable – the possibility of national bankruptcy – is now beginning to be talked about openly by a few sober politicians in the United Kingdom, Japan, and even here in the United States. For example, Governor Pawlenty has mentioned national bankruptcy in some of his recent speeches as part of his rift against the Obama administration’s “stimulus” spending.

For years, observers of state governments have closely watched the deteriorating fiscal conditions of most of the 50 state governments. But with the heightened awareness of global sovereign debt, more scrutiny is being paid to each state’s indebtedness. As part of its new survey on “The Global Debt Bomb,” Forbes conducted an overview of the states’ debt problems. The five best ranked states were Utah (1), New Hampshire (2), Nebraska (3), Texas (4), and Virginia (5). The five worst ranked were, not surprisingly, New Jersey (46), California, (47), Connecticut (48), New York (49), and Illinois (50).

Minnesota was in the middle of the pack of the Forbes survey, at 18th position. This slightly better-than-average placement is cold comfort considering that the state government carries $866 in public debt per capita but a whopping $14,233 in unfunded public pension liability per capita. Something for taxpayers and lawmakers to consider after last week’s updated Minnesota state budget forecast.

An old dog learns new tweets

Mainstream media was quick to dismiss social media before most of us had heard about Facebook or Twitter. They held the power over information and could care less what someone’s status was. The more the mainstream media struggled to understand social media, the faster the rest of the world embraced the phenomenon.

• In 2007, Facebook had 12 million active users worldwide; it now has 400 million.
• In 2007, people sent 5,000 tweets a day, according to Twitter; now there are nearly 50 million a day.
  

Now with millions of people plugged into social media through laptops and iPhones, social networking sites buzz with activity as friends bash the Bachelor’s decision to propose to Vienna Girardi on Facebook, and sports fans fume over bad plays or referee calls on Twitter. Despite a marked decrease in regularly programmed television ratings, network channels have seen an increase in viewers during live, large-market television events – all thanks to social media.

• The Grammys drew 26 million viewers on CBS, up from 19 million in 2009.
• The Golden Globes’ ratings went up 14 percent on NBC.
• The Super Bowl was the most-watched U.S. television event of all time, drawing 106 million people to CBS.
• The Olympics on NBC triumphed in the ratings throughout the event; the opening ceremony drew 32.6 million viewers.
• ABC has sold out all its ad space for this weekend’s Oscars telecast.

There may be some new life in the mainstream media – as long as they switch from the “must see TV” model to the “must tweet TV” model.

Click here to read more.

Polaris Blazes a Trail at the Capitol

It was Polaris Day at the Capitol today, as Scott Wine, chief executive officer of Polaris Industries, met with several state legislators to talk about Polaris, manufacturing in Minnesota, and the legislative efforts of interest to Polaris. Based in Medina, Minnesota, Polaris is one of the powersport industry’s leading manufacturers and employs more than 2,000 Minnesotans. Goff & Howard has worked with Polaris for more than 15 years and was honored to be a part of today’s legislative event.

Polaris is known for its innovative products, and as a part of Polaris Day at the Capitol, the manufacturer brought its newest electric ATV, the RANGER EV, to the Capitol for legislators to see in person. The RANGER EV, which is part of the ongoing evolution of ATVs that began in 1985, is built for clean and quiet operation that allows for fewer disturbances to the natural environment.

Polaris CEO Scott Wine and Goff & Howard’s Brian Bergson, Chris Georgacas, and Lynda Chilstrom introduced legislators to the RANGER EV, Polaris’ newest electric ATV, on the steps of the Capitol.

Hollywood Comes to Lowertown

The Union Depot was bustling with activity today as filming began on the new crime drama movie, The Convincer. The movie, which stars Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, and Billy Crudup, focuses on a desperate insurance salesman who gets his hands on a rare violin. Minneapolis-based Werc Werk Works, an independent film and finance company, is producing the film.

We look forward to bumping into Kinnear on our way to the parking garage!