HometownSource Blogs

Gov. Tim Pawlenty today (May 11) “in the spirit of compromise” sent a letter to DFL legislative leaders detailing three perceived compromises he’s willing to agree to this last full week of the 2009 legislative session.

The governor proposed to bond for only half — about $490 million — of the original amount of the bonding that he proposed to inject into the state budget.
Democrats, as the governor himself to a degree, have depicted the tobaccco bonding idea as bad policy.

Pawlenty agreed to the Senate DFL budget proposal not to provide additional funding for the state budget reserve.

In the letter, the governor also indicated a willingness to agree to the House DFL K-12 $1.8 billion funding shift — the largest in history, Pawlenty said.

The governor again stipulated that he would oppose any tax increase.

“Minnesota is already a highly-taxed state,” he said.

But Assistant Majority Leader Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, saw little compromise in the governor’s proposal.

Indeed, she spoke of a step in the wrong direction.

Clark indicated that the Senate was unwilling to accept the K-12 funding shift the govenor and House have proposed in their budgets — in a sense, not having such a shift constituted a state budget reserve, she opined.

Clark also indicated the Senate continues to want to shield the human services’ budget.

The Senate leader indicated the Senate is flexible in where an additional $1 billion in revenue — House and Senate DFLers leaders cite that number as critical — comes from.

“Nobody wants to go to special session,” said Clark, speaking this afternoon.

If there is a special session, she opined, that will be the work of the governor.