Posted: 10/18/06
ECM EDITORIAL BOARD: Gov. Pawlenty should be returned to office
Three well qualified candidates want to be governor of Minnesota. Each is a leader, intelligent, politically savvy and dedicated to public service.
Governor Tim Pawlenty and Lt. Governor Carol Molnau are seeking a second term. He was elected to the Minnesota House in 1992 and later became the House Majority Leader.
Mike Hatch is a former state commerce commissioner and is completing his second four-year term as Minnesota's Attorney General. Judi Dutcher, his running mate, is a former state auditor.
Peter Hutchinson was the finance commissioner in the Rudy Perpich administration and was the superintendent of the Minneapolis School system. His running mate is a medical doctor, Dr. Maureen Reed, former chair of the Minnesota Board of Regents.
Pawlenty has a four-year record to examine and to defend. His opponents have the burden to show why Pawlenty should not be reelected.
The governor has led the state through a difficult four years when he inherited a $4.5 billion dollar deficit. Despite some controversial decisions, he has demonstrated the ability to lead the state, which by many measures is one of the finest in the Upper Midwest. After interviewing each candidate personally, the ECM Publishers Editorial Board has decided to endorse Pawlenty for another term.
During his term, particularly the second two years, Pawlenty showed more leadership and flexibility. He bucked his conservative base by proposing a health impact fee/tax on purchases of cigarettes to balance the budget. He changed his stance and led the battle to get state funding for the Northstar commuter rail line from Big Lake to Minneapolis. He signed the controversial new baseball stadium bill, even though he preferred the voter referendum on it.
The governor modified his stance on public transit, and now talks of a transit spine including commuter rail, light rail, rapid bus ways and highways. He defends selling bonds for what he terms is a record road-construction season.
While state aid to schools, colleges and universities was cut to balance the deficit, students continue to excel. The state's high schools graduated 89 percent of the students in 2004, one of the highest graduation rates in the country.
Hatch rightly has criticized high tuition costs that were brought on by cuts in funds to the higher education system. Pawlenty agrees and promises to provide more funds to higher education, if reelected. Despite tuition increases, the University of Minnesota ranks in the middle among Big Ten schools, he says.
The governor has been visible and accessible to people in good times and in hardships. He sees the broader picture and the need to prepare Minnesota to become more involved in the world economy.
Pawlenty told the ECM Editorial Board that he made mistakes during his first term, and that he's learned from them. One mistake was his desire to secure gaming funds for the state.
He said he will not sign a no-tax pledge again, but insists that with a budget surplus predicted for next year, the state should have enough revenues without having to raise taxes. He will be a better governor with a revenue surplus.
Pawlenty can be criticized for refusing to raise sales and income taxes to correct a $4.5 billion deficit. Instead the Republican majority under his leadership cut state aids to cities counties and higher education and did not increase school aids during the first two years of his administration. As a result local property taxes have gone up, but he cautions the cuts did not land equally on all taxing districts.
Pawlenty likes to look at the positives of living in Minnesota. The state has a 4.1 percent unemployment rate compared to the national average of 5.6 percent. In 2005, according to the American Community survey, the state ranked second in the percentage of those 16 to 64 years of age who were employed. It ranked first in home ownership, 10th in median family income and 10th in personal income per capita. It also had the fifth lowest poverty rate.
Health care is a major issue in the campaign at a time when Minnesota ranks first in the percent of the population with health insurance. In a rating on healthiness based on health outcomes and health access, in 2004 the state ranked first, a ranking it has had for nine of the last 13 years, according to the United Health Foundation.
Hatch knows state government and politics and has a record of accomplishment as the state's attorney general, evidenced by his success in getting major medical insurance companies to make changes. He takes on tough issues and has plans to make Minnesota a better, more competitive state with emphasis on more educational opportunities. However, Hatch hesitates to say how he will raise necessary funds, except for closing tax loopholes and cutting administrative costs.
Hutchinson likewise has an impressive and imaginative record and has picked a strong running mate in Dr. Reed. The two have a plan that would move the state in a different direction to make affordable health care accessible to all Minnesotans.
Minnesota is fortunate to have these three men and three women willing to lead the state for another four years, giving the voters a clear choice to represent their interests on election day. -- An opinion of the ECM Editorial Board. ECM Publishers, Inc. publishes 20 community weekly newspapers.
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