The hottest news at the Capitol this week hasn’t been about transportation funding, education or any of the other big and complicated policies legislators are grappling with this session. It was Gov. Mark Dayton’s decision to boost pay for members of his cabinet, a move he says is long overdue. Republicans have seized on the issue, saying Dayton made a rash decision when some Minnesotans are still struggling financially (and it’s a message that will almost certainly show up in GOP campaign literature come 2016). Even Democrats in the Minnesota Senate, who are up for re-election in 2016 – and who may be trying to avoid that aforementioned campaign literature – voted 63-2 this week to suspend Dayton’s pay increases. The effort was led by DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook. Now, Dayton says he no longer trusts Bakk because Bakk stabbed him in the back. 
PoliGraph: Pay raises, facts and flack
['Mark_Dayton', 'Republican_Party_(United_States)', 'Democratic_Party_(United_States)', 'Minnesota', 'Minnesota_Senate']