From the Taxpayer's League of Minnesota

A “Gold Star” and an extra cookie before nap time for Rep. Juhnke.

Last week, I linked to a KSTP news story about the explosive increase in per diem payments that were made to state legislators in 2007. In Wednesday’s West Central Tribune, Rep. Al Juhnke (DFL-Willmar) – and I give him credit for this – tried defending himself without sounding too much like a naïf.
“Juhnke, chairman of an agriculture and veterans affairs committee, said the $18,234 of per diem he took home in addition to a $31,140 legislative salary was the result of his busy committee schedule and other legislative responsibilities.
“‘I’m proud to be one of the hardest-working legislators in the state,’ he boasted. [ed. Like he’s James Brown or something? Unfortunately, Rep. Juhnke – and many liberals – find the only consequence of “working hard” to be the necessity to raise taxes and increase spending.]
“Juhnke said a large share of his per diem after the regular session was the result of his perfect attendance [ed. Gold Star!] on at least six capital investment committee tours. It is important to see proposed projects in person before deciding which deserve funding, he said. [ed. Any chance you toured any of the dozen or so road and bridge projects that should be the focus of the Capital Investment Committee? I’m sure the snow-making machine that Battle Creek State Park wants was a real humdinger of a tour.]
“In 2007, Juhnke said, he also attended commission and board hearings during the legislative interim, spoke at agricultural conferences and attended meetings of the Midwestern Legislative Conference, where he leads an agriculture panel.”
And one more thing. What in the world is Sen. Mee Moua (who lives six miles from the Capitol) doing collecting $22,000 in per diem payments? What happened to liberals loving bikes and walking and such?

You can link to my previuos post on this issue here,
http://jungbauer2010.blogspot.com/2007/11/senate-per-diem.html