Category: I-35 Bridge

by Dave Mindeman

Three years ago today a bridge fell down.

A lot has changed in the interim. Governor Pawlenty will soon be moving on to greener pastures. Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau is now "just" a Lt. Governor. One MnDOT employee was fired - but for reasons unrelated to the bridge. A modern, state of the art I-35 bridge now stands in the place of the pile of twisted metal and concrete that spanned the Misissippi River at the end of that August 1st day.

Some things have not changed. Thirteen people are still not with us and thirteen families are still coping with their loss. The 145 people injured continue to have memories that will never go away. The NTSB still has the official cause of the collapse as a "design flaw". And Minnesota transportation continues to have inadequate funding.

Oh and one more thing....USB Corporation, the bridge inspectors that once recommended re-enforcement of the old bridge only to withdraw that recommendation for "more inspections"....yes, that USB Corp still gets MnDOT contracts.

Recently, the litigation process involving the I-35 bridge has shown us that the story of the I-35 Bridge Collapse is not over. The relationship between URS and the State of Minnesota has more things to tell us and maybe a little more truth will be revealed.

At some point.....maybe.

In the meantime, it is time to pause and reflect. To understand that transportation infrastructure is not something we should take for granted. That it is not something to always focus on in the ever present rounds of budget cutting that we are now so accustomed to.

Good roads and bridges and sound maintenance are a key to Minnesota's economic future. We still have bridges classified as "structurally deficient".

They tell us that they will make sure that the August 1st tragedy on I-35 will never happen again. But then again, it is hard to believe that it could ever have happened in the first place.

But it did.

Category: Minnesota Politics

by Dave Mindeman

Money pervades politics and government in oh so many ways. Even in this current deep recession, money continues to flow to political pockets -- deep and deeper.

That is why it is so disturbing that this so-called "monetary freedom of speech" is now going to invade the third branch of government, the judiciary.

Greg Wersal has made it his life's goal to make judges just another political monetary tool. The courts have ruled recently that endorsements cannot be denied in judicial elections. And with that comes money and political games.

And to furthur complicate things, the Citizen United ruling brings more unseemly possibilities via unlimited corporate money.

Can you imagine an elected judge deciding cases against a corporation that was his biggest donor? And if he or she would have the integrity to recuse themselves, what's to stop a corporation from "buying" the whole court?

Think about how different the 2008 Senate race would be if the judges involved had been beholden to political party endorsements? Appointments of judges by which governor of which party is already an instant topic of conversation in such cases, but how much worse would it be if the judges had official Party affiliations by endorsement in their election to the court?

Minnesota has managed to steer clear of this ugly business for some time, but no longer. We will have to deal with this situation in some manner. Maybe with legislation.....or maybe by Constitutional amendment.

Something has to stop the "selling" of our justice system. When we talk about the greening of Minnesota, we have to hope we are still talking about energy.....and not an increase in the paper flow of "dead Presidents".