At a time when it seems nearly every state legislature is assaulting the rights of working families, Minnesota's House and Senate are bucking the trend and are likely to soon send Gov. Mark Dayton a series of strong pro-working family bills. According to Minnesota AFL-CIO Communications Director Chris Shields, this is the first time in 20 years the state government has been unified under one-party control, with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party holding the governorship and the majority in both houses of the legislature.

The Republican shutdown of the Minnesota government that closed the doors on vital services and locked out most of the state’s 38,000 public employees likely will end in the next few days after Gov. Mark Dayton (D) and Republican leaders reached an agreement late yesterday.

Minnesota Republican legislators’ incredibly stubborn and increasingly costly refusal to impose a small tax on the state’s wealthiest 2 percent has Minnesota in its 12th day of a government shutdown. Not only have most of the state’s vital services closed their doors but most of the state’s 38,000 public employees are out of work.

It was simple choice: a small tax on Minnesota’s wealthiest 2 percent or shut down state services and programs. The tax would apply to those making more than $1 million a year, only about 7,700 people.

On the last day before a possible government shut-down, several hundred Minnesotans rallied at the state capitol this morning to urge Republican legislators to back off their refusal to ask the state’s wealthiest 2 percent to pay their fair share to close a budget gap.

Because they refuse to ask the state’s wealthiest 2 percent to pay their fair share to help close a budget deficit, Republican state legislators in Minnesota are just days away from forcing a government shutdown close the doors to vital public services for working families and toss 38,000 state employees out of work and

For the rest of the week, I’m with Tula Connell at the Netroots Nation conference in Minneapolis. You can follow the conference on Twitter at #nn11.

In many ways, the big difference between Minnesota and Wisconsin is Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Gov. Mark Dayton, who has fought tirelessly to beat back Republican attacks on workers’ rights. His victory in a very difficult electoral environment was truly incredible—especially given that, until his election, there hadn’t been a DFL governor in the state in 24 years.  

More evidence that Republicans are determined to grab as much power as they can at the expense of everyone but the rich. Not satisfied with attacking the rights of workers, Republicans in 36 states are going after the most sacred American right—the right to vote. The We Party reports that through a myriad of proposals, they are trying to suppress the votes of traditionally Democratic voters, including minorities, the poor, people who live in rural areas, seniors and students.

Some 2,000 working people rallied at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul Tuesday to make it clear that Wisconsin-like attempts to destroy collective bargaining will not succeed in their state.