Here's another bill that needs to get shot down: "Ronald Reagan...

[MnFats]

Klinzig from Woodbury (surprise, surprise! a republican!)
has introduced a bill to rename the state office building the "Ronald Reagan State Office Building."

probably doesn't have a great chance but I really, really hate the idea of having any public building, space or structure named after the second-worst president of all time.


the text:


http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0026.0&session=ls84

[Sandpiper]

1. Wasn't Minnesota the only state that didn't go for Reagan

Back in '84?

[dflprincess]

14. Yup

n/t

[trotsky]

19. Minnesota: the only state never to vote for Reagan or EITHER Bush.

I am so proud.

[katinmn]

24. 80 and 84

[rwenos]

2. Sorry Mate, But Reagan's Name . . .

is already on the relatively-new State Office Building and Court of Appeals in downtown Los Angeles, the big brown building on Broadway.

Makes me want to puke every time I walk into it.

[Sandpiper]

3. But Reagan was a California governor

What possible motive could Minnesota have for naming anything after the drooling idiot.

[rwenos]

4. Good Question -

What kind of crazy Pubbies are in the Minnesota Legislature?

Seems weird. Reagan was born in Illinois (or Ohio, I forget), but spent his adult life in Sunny California.

Elected Governor in 1966, beat Pat Brown (Jerry's father).

Ugh! What a nightmare!

[anitar1]

5. I lived in California when Raygun was elected

and cannot imagine who would want anything named for him. What a dud!! but so many just LOVED him. The entertainment thing started with him Golly, remember how great he was in the war movies? ect ect Same thing with the Gropenator. A lot of folks are very sick.Imo he was a total failure, cannot think of one good thing he did. I think the first thing he did, was to close all of the mental hospitals, then the other states followed. So today we see all of the mentally ill on the streets. What a sweet guy he was!

[madrchsod]

6. illinois

about 20 miles from here. grover norquist and his merry band of con men are trying to get some public building in every state named after ronny.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Not every state...

every COUNTY.

When this plan first came to light, someone on DU suggested naming county landfills or sewer plants after Ronnie. I could get behind that: The Ronald Reagan Memorial Landfill.

[Zookeeper]

28. I've heard the suggestion....

that his face should be on food stamps.

[katinmn]

25. Well, he did live in CA and serve there which makes some sense

but Minnesota? No way.

[ISUGRADIA]

7. There friggin' maniacal when it comes to this Reagan Obsession

it's creepy, really it is

[CatholicEdHead]

17. All about the image

They need an idol to worship. Reagan serves as the "founder" of the movement role.

[katinmn]

26. Yes, I agree

In certain workplaces the obsession permeates the grounds.

Right, MisAnthropy?
;-)

[katinmn]

8. We should ask a Dem to introduce a bill naming it the Paul Wellstone bldg.

I bet the first one would get withdrawn in a hurry.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Or, to counter that silly attempt to rename Highway 55...

suggest that the building be named the Floyd B. Olson Memorial Building. :-)

[MNDEM2004]

18. Miles & miles

Now it's the 494/694 loop. Give it up!

[Love Bug]

11. They should name it after someone who served Minnesota

Rudy Perpich?
Hubert Humphrey?
Walter Mondale? (do you have to be dead, first?)

[dflprincess]

15. I don't think you have to be dead.

Isn't there a new building named for Elmer L. Andersen and it was decided to name it after him before he died?

[no name no slogan]

20. You are correct --

My agency will be moving into the new Elmer Anderson building next fall when it is complete. And it was named after him before he died, also.

[Dickie Flatt]

12. LeClair; Koering; Gerlach in the senate

S.F. No. 205

[katinmn]

13. self delete

wrong thread.

[ButterflyBlood]

16. that makes perfect sense

name the state office building after Reagan in the only state Reagan never carried! Who can argue with that logic?

[no name no slogan]

21. If they want to name something after a Repub, why not Harold Stassen?

Stassen is a very famous Minnesota Republican. He helped rebuild the world after WWII, and is one of the original signers of the UN Charter.

He also served in DC and St. Paul, and truly made the world a better place because of his service.

If not Stassen, how about Stan Holmquist? He was a GOP leader in the state leg. who helped draft the funding plan for state public schools in the 1960s-- a plan which helped make MN public schools some of the best in the nation?

Hell, even Arne Carlson wouldn't be half bad, either. At least he paid attention to public education-- unlike the current crop of reactionaries in St. Paul.

[trotsky]

22. Arne may have been the last of the old breed.

Republicans who (mostly) cared. He's had quite a few things to say about the fiscal mismanagement of Little Timmy's reign.

[CatholicEdHead]

23. Every former

GOP governor has had something to say about Tim's reign. Pretty much all bad.

Remember Arne ran as an "Independent Republican" the last time he ran, as he was already outside the mainstream of his party.

[no name no slogan]

27. Actually, the whole "IR" thing was concocted in the '70s after Watergate

The MN Repubs wanted to distance themselves from Nixon, so they changed the name of the party to the "Independent-Republicans" around 1976 or so, IIRC. The name itself was pretty meaningless, and they eventually dropped it in the 1990s.

Carlson originally ran as an independent in 1990, after he lost the GOP primary to John Grunseth. However, Grunseth was forced to drop out of the race after revelations came out that he was acting inappropriately with a teenage girl in his family swimming pool. IIRC the Rs had to go to court to get Arne's name on the Republican line on the ballot.

The MN Republican party was invaded in the 1980s by Reagan-inspired religious zealots, who forced out the old 'liberal elite' of well-to-do fiscally conservative (but socially liberal) businessmen. These are the ones who endorsed right-wing wacko Alan Quist over the incumbent and very popular Carlson in 1994.

Ten years later, and they're in charge of the whole show, with the cooperation of the corporate elite of the state. Politics sure makes for strange bedfellows.

[hermetic]

29. I just wrote to my Senator

asking her to vote against this bill, should it come before her. I'm pretty sure she will..