St. Paul, MN – In a packed hearing room, more than a dozen legislators heard testimony March 14 on proposed legislation to put a moratorium on home foreclosures and the eviction of tenants from foreclosed properties. Representative Karen Clark and Senator Scott Dibble, authors of the ‘Foreclosure Moratorium, Neighborhood Stabilization & Tenant Protection Bill’ (SF1521 and HF1886) chaired the hearing. The moratorium bill is an initiative of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout (MCPBO).

_Groups slam public subsidies _

St Paul, MN – It was a big day for Vikings owner and New Jersey real estate developer Zygi Wilf at the State Capitol, Jan. 12, when plans were submitted by the City of Minneapolis, Ramsey County and others for a new Vikings football stadium. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton set Jan. 12 as a deadline for Vikings stadium plans to be considered at the upcoming legislative session. Wilf insists that the public pick up most of the tab for a new stadium

St. Paul, MN – “There should be no public funds used, from any source, to pay for a rich man’s stadium,” said the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout’s Linden Gawboy, testifying at a Dec. 6 state Senate committee hearing. The off-session hearing looked at financial options for building a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings football team.

“It’s a Tea Party bank”

Minneapolis, MN – Around two hundred people marched from the OccupyMN People’s Plaza to nearby TCF Bank Tower, Oct. 11. Marchers chanted “The banks got bailed out, people got sold out!” and “ho ho hey hey, make the rich pay!” The march targeted TCF Bank because the locally-based bank tries to dominate Minnesota’s economy and politics with extreme pro-corporate policies.

St Paul, MN – Protesters gathered on the front steps of the Minnesota State Capitol, April 15 with a message for state legislators and Governor Dayton: “Tax the rich. No more attacks on poor and working people.” High winds whipped a giant banner spread out across the capitol steps.

Beat Back the Republican Attacks

St Paul, MN – Protesters will assemble at the Minnesota State Capitol Building, at 12 noon, Jan. 4 to say no to attacks on programs that serve poor and working people. Organized by the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, the action will coincide with the opening of the Minnesota State legislature.

Minneapolis, MN – As the candidates for governor were preparing to debate inside the Pantages Theater here Sept. 15, about 30 members of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, including folks from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee and the Welfare Rights Committee were on the street out front.

St. Paul, MN – “You need a permit to do that,” the cops told the group of women writing last-minute posters outside Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty’s office, May 17. The posters were in preparation for the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout event on the last day of the Minnesota legislative session.

“Pawlenty thought he was a king. Now he is just pathetic.”

Fight Back! interviewed Linden Gawboy, a leader of the Welfare Rights Committee and the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout on the implications of the May 5 Minnesota Supreme Court decision limiting Governor Pawlenty’s power of unallotment. Gawboy has been involved with fighting for low-income people at the Minnesota state legislature for over 15 years.

St. Paul, MN – Protesters assembled in the rotunda of the Minnesota state capitol here on April 15 for a rally to demand that the state government not “balance the state budget on the backs of working and low-income people.” The rally called on politicians to instead, “tax the rich.”

Minneapolis, MN – Friends, neighbors and other supporters joined the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout at the home of Michel Kidd, April 9. Kidd has been fighting to keep his home for over a year. He has had enough of the mortgage servicer, Aurora Loan Services, stalling, changing terms, ‘forgetting’ about past agreements and items faxed and mailed several times and apparently refusing to negotiate in good faith.

St. Paul, MN – A bill that places a moratorium on home foreclosures and brings a halt to the eviction of tenants from foreclosed buildings got through the Minnesota State House of Representatives Housing Policy and Finance and Public Health Finance Division, Feb. 9. The moratorium bill will now proceed to the House Commerce Committee. It is expected that Senate hearings on the bill will be announced in coming days.

St. Paul, MN – About 100 people gathered here Feb. 4 on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol for a protest that coincided with the opening of the Minnesota State Legislature. The Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout organized the protest. Standing at the top of a giant banner reading, “Tax the rich, no cuts to poor and working people,” Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee led the chant, “Hey politicians, here’s the fix – tax the rich! Tax the rich!”

St. Paul, MN – The battle is under way to put a moratorium on home forecloses in Minnesota. The first legislative hearing on an bill to put a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions began with a joint hearing by State Senate Economic Development and Housing Budget Division and Health and Housing and Family Security Committee, Jan. 27 at the Minnesota state capitol.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 75 workers, students and community supporters rallied at Morrill Hall, the central administration building here, Jan. 21, to oppose attempts by President Bruininks and senior administrators to balance the budget on the backs of staff and students.

Minneapolis, MN – Under the call of “Foreclose the war, not people's homes,” more than 100 people joined a protest here to mark the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Demonstrators gathered at the home of Leslie Parks, an African American woman who is fighting back against the attempt to foreclose on her home. Later, participants gathered at Saint Joan of Arc Church. The events were organized by the Iraq Peace Action Coalition and the Minnesota Coalition for a People's Bailout.

Minneapolis, MN – Neighbors and supporters rallied at the home of Leslie Parks, Dec. 18, demanding an end to foreclosures and evictions. Parks has made it clear that she will not be foreclosed out of her home. This was the first public action since Dec. 8, when IndyMac/One West Bank temporarily locked Leslie out of her home.

Minneapolis, MN – Leslie Parks and her backers went to housing court Dec. 9 and filed papers against IndyMac/One West for doing an unlawful lockout. Leslie Parks had arrived home the night before only to find that all the locks had been changed on her home.

Minneapolis, MN – On the night of Dec. 8, in a freezing blizzard, Leslie Parks returned from her job to find that IndyMac/One West had changed the locks to her home.

Picket demands “Tax the rich”

St. Paul, MN – Members of the Welfare Rights Committee and the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout gathered in the state capitol building, Dec. 2, outside the room where Minnesota Management and Budget department heads presented the ‘November Forecast,’ projecting a $1.2 billion deficit.