Posted: 7/31/06
People come and go in politics, just ask Matt Entenza
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Thereís very little mourning in politics.
People come and go.
The machinery doesnít falter.
This seems the case with former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul.
Entenza, as most people know, withdrew from the Attorney General race after it became known he had hired an opposition research firm about 18 months ago to see what Attorney General Mike Hatch had been up to.
Entenza had trouble explaining why he had done this.
He said he had merely wanted to learn more about the workings of the office, an explanation which even to the tone deaf sounded strained.
Still, his withdrawal from the race left people wondering whether there wasnít something else out there ó the second shoe that didnít quite drop.
Sure, turning researchers loose on a fellow DFLer seems a little tacky ó or even slightly paranoid.
But it hardly seemed like reason enough to drop out of the race.
There is the conflict of interest question concerning Entenzaís wife, Lois Quam, a wealthy health care executive whose company that she works for is currently being investigated by the Attorney Generalís Office.
Perhaps it just all proved too much.
Entenza was gone.
The machinery began to whirl.
Some five DFLers file for attorney general ó two later dropped out.
Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, former congressman Bill Luther, and Solicitor General Lori Swanson all look to replace Entenza.
Kelley perhaps seems best situated to get the endorsement when the DFL State Central Committee meets on Aug. 12.
Kelley, who failed to get the partyís gubernatorial endorsement, came away from the state convention in June looking good.
He gave one of the best speeches heard at the convention and gracefully bowed out to give the endorsement to Hatch.
Luther, who served four-terms in Congress, has been out of office for four years and carries the albatross of having lost an election.
In the 2nd District, Lutherís last election also serves up memories of No New Taxes Sam Garst and the attempt to divide the conservative vote.
Swanson is not a political figure.
The rumpus in the attorney generalís race seemed to threaten to spill over into the governorís race for a moment when Hatch complained to the Minnesota News Council about inquiries made by metro daily reporters into a daughterís past relationship and other areas Hatch deemed irrelevant.
The complaint seemed to suggest a coming storm but the storm never broke.
It might be interpreted as a protective father standing up for his children ó something like Harry Truman did when a music critic lampooned his daughter, a warbler, and the president basically threatened to beat the critic up.
But editorially the ìStar Tribuneî is usually friendly to Democrats.
So the sense of lingering expectation hasnít wholly diminished.
Still, if the DFL political travail of the past weeks were unavoidable they also came a good time.
Itís summer. Thereís a heat wave.
The average person likely hasnít been watching events at the Capitol too closely.
Come November, it will seem half-remembered like a hot weather daydream.
And not a lot of insiders are shedding tears.
Posted: 6/26/06
Independence Party candidates bring solid credentials; timing will be key
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
The catch-phrase of the convention was ìNot left, not right, forward!î
But delegates attending the Independence Party of Minnesota State Convention last Saturday (June 24) at Midway Stadium in St. Paul were also concerned with ìUp.î
A sunny sky slowly darkened over the course of the three-hour convention and there was talk of distant ìbowî echoes on weather radar.
Rain ponchos were distributed.
And worn.
But the heavy rain held off until the end of the convention.
And when it fell, it might have been seen as a nonbinding benediction on a third party that seems on something of a roll.
Candidates heralded the IP convention as the biggest ever.
Although its 277 delegates represent only a fraction the number attending the DFL or Republican state conventions, itís about 100 more than endorsed former congressman Tim Penny for governor four years ago, according to party officials.
One burden third parties labor under is that the perception they serve as holding tanks for malcontents or theoreticians who can talk at length about the things that bug them but whose more practical solutions include soybean-based utopias.
Perhaps the IP is subject to such political prejudice to a greater degree, as its past figureheadís business attire once included a boa and whose public utterances contained shadings of professional wrestling vernacular.
But the striking thing about the IPís current statewide slate of candidates, certainly, is how solid it looks ó the resumes are impressive.
Even very impressive.
Gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson is a former Perpich Administration official, ex-big city school superintendent, with impressive private sector experience.
His runningmate ó who has a dab of charisma ó is a physician, Dr. Maureen Reed.
At least in what has been the traditional role of lieutenant governor, it might be argued Reed is over qualified for the post.
Other IP candidates have strong credential: Lucy Gerold, State Auditor, law enforcement; Joel Spoonheim, Secretary of State, Brooklyn Park city official; John James, Attorney General, former state commissioner of revenue.
Not bad.
The the partyís U.S. Senate candidate, Robert Fitzgerald of Rothsay, while young cuts a figure in a business suit, holds an advance degree, and has a media background.
He seems capable of sitting next to Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Mark Kennedy and not fading.
Fitzgeraldís endorsement at Midway Stadium was interesting.
The IP party, which prides itself on creativity, used a run-off ballot where delegates listed candidates in order of preference.
Though Fitzgerald and two other candidates missed endorsement as the delegatesí first choice, Fitzgeraldís additional second choice votes pushed him over the endorsement mark.
Whether such balloting is adopted by other parties remains to be seen.
But it seemed workable and timely, especially the latter when the skies to the west begin to resembled an enfolding shroud.
How will the IP do in November?
Anybodyís guess.
Even the most somber assessment would have the IP keeping its major party status.
Hutchinson speaks of a campaign war chest of more than $2 million.
That kind of money buys a lot of campaign buttons.
The IP party seems to be on something of a roll.
In politics, timing is everything.
Posted: 6/13/06
Governor's race begins to take shape
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
The endorsement of Attorney General Mike Hatch last weekend by DFL activists closed the ìWhoî chapter of the governorís race.
We now know who: Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Hatch, Independence Party Peter Hutchinson, and Green Party Ken Pentel.
True, Hatch faces a primary challenge from Sen. Becky Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, who apparently is intent on one and cannot be dissuaded by sweet talk.
But Loureyís poor showing last weekend was the surprise of the convention. And itís to be wondered how her candidacy will fare in the thinner air outside the Mayo Civic Center.
Parallels exist between the 2006 governorís race and the race four years ago that elevated Pawlenty from House majority leader to chief executive.
Pentel is back.
But Pentel, a good candidate, won just a shade over two percent of the vote four years ago. And the Green Party is now a diminished party ó no longer considered major.
It seems plausible that Pentelís vote count will go down rather than up.
Hutchinson, too, is a good candidate. But does the party still have a luster?
Former congressman Tim Penny donned the partyís mantle four years ago, a feathered boa, and for a spell seemed to be in a position to win.
Third party chemistry explosive
But in the end, Pennyís 16-points while respectable ó and indispensible to Pawlenty, some argue ó seemed to confirm that third party chemistry tends to be more explosive than stable.
That doesnít rule out another explosion.
Hatch and former senate majority leader Roger Moe, the DFL gubernatorial candidate four years ago, are not wholly dissimilar.
Neither Hatch or Moe ever tickled much of a bounce out of the ìWarm and Fuzzyî meter while Pawlenty has company engineers working on additional capacity.
But Hatch, who won more votes in 2002 than Pawlenty, with a wisdom or frankness has surrendered the Chief Nurturer role in favor of Chief Executive.
Itís more than that: itís Chief Fixer ó a guy who knows the angles and can swim with the sharks because heís a bit of one himself.
(It is better to be feared than loved, concluded Machiavelli.)
Sure, the public may rather have a beer with that ìtalk show hostî Tim Pawlenty, Hatch recently explained.
Hatch bravado
But when someone wants something done, they know who to come to, he concluded. They come to Mike Hatch. Of course, this bravado is useful if voters feel a strong need for a change. Thatís hard to say.
The economy, while not great, is chugging along, to use a Pawlenty description.
Property taxes have gone up. In some places, way up.
Democrats blame Pawlenty for this.
Yet Minnesotans, whose fixation with the weather touches the religious, do not take to streets to burn the weatherman in effigy every time it rains.
Whether Democrats can sell their equational attack remains to be seen.
And just to offer one more agonizing variable, if voters are incensed will the discontent help Hutchinson rather than Hatch?
Anyway, former deck hand Hatch has already gone after Pawlenty on a personal level, half-jokingly last weekend that no one has ever accused him of being overly cautious.
The governorís race will not lack zest.
Sports new haircut
And what of Pawlenty? He returned from outstate shortly after being elected sporting a new haircut, a new look, that my have symbolized something, at least to himself ó the husking of the old for the new, perhaps.
But recently Pawlenty has sounded much like his old self: same-sex marriage, the death penalty, other conservative standards.
Of course, Pawlenty slowly morphed on the issue of Northstar Commuter Rail ó he derided rail transit to the Republican convention but later made Northstar funding a bonding bill priority.
If Hatch is a man of action, the governor at the very least is nimble.
Itís to be wondered which approach better staves off exhaustion.
Posted: 5/22/06
2006 legislative session will be remembered for stadiums; session is done
The morbidly curious might be disappointed creeping into the Capitol on Monday (May 22) morning.
The arching magnificence does seem preternaturally quiet ó the general hum of the legislative session gone.
But the buildingís intact. The committee rooms are orderly. Lawmakers with little fanfare have all gone home.
And this is the Minnesota Legislature?
Although the 2006 legislative session will be remembered for stadiums, it might also for a lack of divisiveness and bitterness that have blemished previous legislative sessions.
Of course, even the greenest freshman lawmaker might ponder the wisdom of infuriating the public when the means of retribution looms only months away in the first week of November.
Self-preservation has a wonderful habit of straightening the spine and putting smiles on faces.
Indeed, strategic decisions seem to have been in play.
And as always, luck.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty Sunday (May 21) evening detailed a stylistic approach to the session a person might not attribute to the leader of a party that gave Senate DFLers such a drubbing in 2003 that it claimed a Senate majority leader.
(The governor has pointed to the beating the Democrats took that year in pinpointing the intransigency he perceived steelcoating the Senate DFL caucus).
At any rate, the smiling governor spoke of finding ways in negotiations where ìeverybody wins a little bit.î
Pawlenty mentioned a more de facto approach to striking budget deals ó working through third parties.
He also mentioned a wariness of not letting issues become minted with the ìPawlentyî stamp.
Trailing that last bit of wisdom would follow a path of a thousand winces back to the ìPawlentyî cigarette healthcare impact fee.
Rightly or wrongly, the fee was christened his offspring and the governor has had to endure the childís legally-challenged life that ultimately had it standing before the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Enough of that, the chief executive might have thought.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, seemed to confirm a general spirit of live and let live prevailing the session.
ìThe governor and I got along just fine,î said Johnson, who earlier in the session indicated that he was dealing with the House Republicansó with House Speaker Steve Sviggum ó through the Governorís Office.
Johnson went on to muse of earlier negotiations.
ìIt was how can we look good and make you look bad,î he said, probably intending to further note how such sentiments not are wholly claimed by either party.
The lines werenít being drawn in the sand, Johnson explained.
It is remarkable how the list of hot button issues ó immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion ó seems to have been placed in a desk drawer somewhere and forgotten.
Perhaps no one wanted to look like extremists on the threshold of an election ó Republicans are not about to endorse somebody else over Gov. Pawlenty.
Democrats hope to make gains in the suburbs.
House Republicans are worried about losing control the House.
Why risk the prospects of a session both Pawlenty and Johnson later deemed one of the smoothest in years.
Interests were walking hand-in-hand.
As for luck, the Minnesota Supreme Courtís reversal of a lower court ruling tossing out the cigarette healthcare impact fee meant the potential loss of about $285 million a year to the state was avoided.
So another potential flareup went obligingly away.
Nothing is permanent, and this is especially true in politics.
When the Legislature reconvenes in January, the political dynamics will all be different.
But it is almost astonishing what can be achieved ó two stadiums, $1 billion boding bill ó when everybody is on their best behavior.
Posted: 5/15/06
Sixth District race for Congress between Bachmann and Wetterling promises to be vitriolic
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
What promises to be the most vitriolic race in the state took shape last weekend when 6th District DFLers endorsed Patty Wetterling for Congress.
Wetterling managed to squeeze by former transportation commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg Saturday afternoon to win her second endorsement for Congress.
As everyone knows, Wetterling, of St. Joseph, lost to Rep. Mark Kennedy two years ago but was generally seen to have held her own against the driven congressman intent on membership in the U.S. Senate.
Wetterlingís return to the 6th after a failed shot at the U.S. Senate put Tinklenberg in a bind.
The clear field he thought he had before him turned into a bog, and the lightfooted Wetterling passed him by.
Despite her protestations that she is not a p-o-l-i-t-i-c-i-a-n, Wetterling obligingly put on the trappings of one and her speeches before the delegates seemed as sharp and engaging as any she has delivered.
Tinklenberg is more skillful at framing issues, but Patty Wetterling had herself, which to delegates ó balloting went on for several hours ó was perhaps not more than enough but enough.
One thing for certain is the dynamics of a scorched-earth style congressional campaign has been set in motion in the 6th.
When Republicans endorsed Sen. Michele Bachmann of Stillwater more than a week ago, they also endorsed the fierce partisanships and just-contained emotionality that clings to the social-issue senator.
A Phil Krinkie, or Jim Knoblach, or Jay Esmay, would not have injected such intensity.
But maybe thatís why Bachmann got the nod.
At any rate, Democrats are going into the race with balled fists.
Wettlerling taking off the gloves
Wetterling ó who some people criticized for responding too meekly to Republican headbanging ads last election ó in so many words says sheís taking off the gloves.
She refuses to be defined by others, she insists. Sheís battle tested, toughened.
Well, to the French Joan of Arc was a saint.
But itís to be remembered St. Joan also beat the stuffings out of those English dogs.
Religious references may seem out of place in discussing politics, a very human affair where preparing congressional campaign winners for their victory speeches can involve the liberal use of a garden hose.
But itís looking like God will be playing close attention to 6th ó at least people seem willing to pay Him the courtesy of speaking for Him.
Itís was to be expected that DFLers at the convention would go after Bachmann.
What was a little unexpected was the intensity and persistence of the rhetoric.
ìMichele is the devil in the blue dress and Patty is the saint,î said Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, to convention delegates.
However intended, this is an extraordinary statement coming from a state senator directed toward another.
Fundamental right to disagree
Back in Roman time, political adversaries were considered honorable people who, within the gracious liberties of the system, were merely exercising their fundamental right to disagree.
Sure, they were later sometimes fed to the polecats in the Coliseum but there was nothing malicious about it.
Such elegance may not survive very long in a race where opponents are depicted as not merely wrongheaded or foolish or inane but evil.
It seems a shame atheists lack the ability to fully appreciate the self-sealing nature of the politics of certitude.
And it seems like that type of politics will be fully vented in the 6th District.
When political speeches become entangled in chapter and verse, things have a tendency to turn devilish.
Posted: 5/8/06
Social issue politics gave Sen. Michele Bachman boost she needed to earn Sixth District endorsement
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Sen. Michele Bachmann was dancing onstage before Sixth District Republicans last Saturday prior to giving her nominating speech, and why not?
Her political challengers for the endorsement had conceded that Bachmann ó whose quick rise shows the potential of social issue politics ó was ahead going into the convention.
And how.
Bachmann missed a first ballot endorsement by a dozen votes and gained strength in the second ballot.
Her challengers ó representatives Phil Krinkie, of Lino Lakes, Jim Knoblach, of St. Cloud, and Coon Rapids native Jay Esmay of St. Cloud ó collectively threw in the towel after the third ballot.
Krinkieís last-place showing at the convention in Monticello was a little surprising.
Certainly, ìDr. Noî has crafted a reputation and notoriety at the Capitol, though the fiscal conservative hawk is generally reasonable and not overly strident.
The baby cry retort to unhappy Democrats last week ó waa, waa, waa ó though well delivered and grammatically sound perhaps suggested a note of desperation.
Krinkie recently said itís hard to run a congressional campaign when legislative duties kept him at the Capitol for 12-14 hours a day.
Dr. No choked up
Addressing delegates, Krinkie mentioned an older brother born deaf and blind with cerebral palsy and his motherís scriptural quote that to those much is given, much is expected. To see Dr. No choke up was moving.
But in the same speech, Krinkie cited praise from Sen. Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, Senate Tax Committee chairman and the bane of Republicans.
Praise from the opposition has a habit of roaming the mind.
Although Gov. Tim Pawlenty while addressing delegates said they had three great candidates to pick from ó Four! Four! delegates shouted ó the fourth, Jay Esmay, certainly wasnít embarrassed by his endorsement showing.
Esmay was a 6th District version of 2nd District Congressman John Kline: a former military man without a political resume running for Congress.
While the other candidates has slick video presentations, Esmay had a scratch band, a campaign song, and otherwise showed the steep hill he had to climb competing against the lawmakers.
At any rate, Republicans seemed to leave the convention a united body.
Sixth District Democrats endorse this weekend
Sixth District Democrats are expected to endorse this weekend. Child safety advocate Patty Wetterling of St. Joseph is competing against Elwyn Tinklenberg, former mayor of Blaine and transportation commissioner, for the right to represent the party.
It will be an interesting race whether Tinklenberg or Wetterling get endorsed, because Bachmann is a hard campaigner and a skilled politician.
A Wetterling/Bachmann matchup would be especially fascinating, because the election results on Nov. 7 could diagnose the political sentiments of the edgy 6th District.
Posted: 5/1/06
Capitol Views: Coon Rapids financial analyst makes his stadium views known at Capitol
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
An Anoka County commissioner refused to shake hands; another simply ignores him, said Jim Hafner.
Such is the fate of a contrarian.
A financial analyst from Coon Rapids, Hafner has been a modest but persistent voice in the stadium debate the at Capitol this session.
Heís testified a handful of times before Senate and House committees in opposition to currently proposed Vikings and Twins stadium bills.
Hafner is not a veteran rabblerouser.
Indeed, Hafner only became interested in the Anoka County Vikings stadium proposal ó a proposal which includes a countywide sales tax ó in recent months, he explained. ìI see us paying a lot of money, but I donít see us getting a lot of money back,î he said.
So Hafner has been spending hours hanging around committee rooms, taking notes, waiting to testify.
He has experience some success. A Senate committee amended the Vikings stadium bill to reflect a suggestion Hafner made while testifying before it.
For a member of the public, unassisted by a lawmaker, to instantly achieve that result is uncommon. ìThat was something, wasnít it,î Hafner said of the amendment.
Worries about quality of presentation
Hafner is accustomed to giving business presentations, said going before legislative committees isnít frightening. But he does worry about the quality of presentation. ìMy heart pumps,î he said.
Hafner has a number of beefs about the Vikings stadium proposal.
He thinks the local taxpayers will pay too much and Zygi Wilf and the Vikings too little.
Hafner views county government as at disadvantage when dealing with financiers like Wilf and Carl Pohlad.
These guys are good, Hafner explained. ìThey (county officials) get caught up with this, ëWouldnít this be great,íî he said.
Hafner professes no great insight about the workings of the Legislature. Lawmakers seem inundated in legislation, he explained.
There seems to be lots of lobbyists.
And money.
According to Hamline University Professor David Schultz, special interest groups spent an average of $231,000 per legislator to influence Minnesota lawmakers in 2005.
The professor predicts special interest spending this year will top $300,000 per legislator.
Actually more money was spent in 2002, with special interest groups shelling out more than $416,000 per legislator, according to Schultz.
Hafner has been able to spend the time at the Legislature because heís self-employed, he explained.
Detects note of fatalism
He detects a note of fatalism among friends in the neighborhood over the current Vikings proposal. ìA lot of people just hang and their heads and kind of walk away,î said Hafner. ìThereís a lot of apathy out there. And thatís too bad,î he said.
Politically, Hafner doesnít view himself as a Republican nor a Democrat. People might think heís a no-new-taxes conservative, but thatís not true, said Hafner. He doesnít necessarily object to some public funding for professional sports stadiums. He just believes the sport team owners should be contributing more.
Hafner wants a referendum on the three-quarter of one percent countywide sales tax proposed by the county board.
County residents should have the chance to vote, he explained.
Having a referendum pass would be one way of silencing Hafner.
ìIf it (the referendum) gets put on the ballot and it passes, Iíll shut my mouth,î he said.
Posted: 4/24/06
Capitol Views: Incumbency allows office seekers opportunity to use showiness of their office
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Incumbency allows office seekers to use the showiness of office as campaign staging.
Now this is in the eye of the beholder, of course.
But making the brave assumption a barrier hasnít been successfully erected in the 6th District race, how are the actors faring?
(Jay Esmay, a 6th District candidate from St. Cloud, does not currently hold elective office).
As with most human affairs, things have been a little muddy.
Rep. Phil Krinkie, R-Lino Lakes, packed up his tax committee last week and caravaned to Bloomington to hold a Twins ballpark hearing.
The result was astonishing.
Some 600 ballpark opponents and proponents crowded a middle school auditorium ó hundreds of others watched from outside ó in a spectacle which at times resembled the ìGong Showî or conceptually, ìThursday Night at the Alamo.î
Krinkie gives witnesses abundant time
Audience members lustily cheered and booed witnesses testifying before the committee. It must have been a temptation as the hours wore on, as Krinkie gave witnesses abundant time.
Indeed, his generosity had one reporter checking to see whether in packing committee people had forgotten the chairmanís gavel.
The hearing cemented Krinkieís credentials as a man of the people perhaps, and one environmental activistís credentials as a near victim.
The following day the chairman explained that he likes to afford the public leeway when testifying before his committee.
In terms of latitude Thursday night, he offered the Strait of Magellan.
At any rate, the hearingís climactic moment didnít bounce the chairmanís way.
Krinkieís financial reticence has earned him the nickname ìDr. Noî at the Legislature.
It would have played out beautifully had the referendum amendment Krinkie offered stuck to the ballpark bill.
But it did not.
The same sense of a protagonist overwhelmed by the plot affected Sen. Michele Bachmann and the same-sex marriage debate this year.
In 2004 plot lines seemed cleaner: stances crisper, the issue more direct.
But this year Bachmannís push for a vote on a same-sex marriage ban amendment was overshadowed by the ethics complaint against Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson.
Further defusing matters was the revelation that the senatorís own family is divided on the same-sex marriage issue.
Itís one thing to talk about activist judges; another to be a cross purposes with a stepsister.
It's Knoblach's turn
Rep. Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, hasnít achieved yet the degree of coverage this session as Krinkie and Bachmann. Knoblach, House Ways and Means Committee chairman, is involved in procedural debates but that issue wonít withstand a 100-yard walk from the Capitol.
His committee is scheduled to hear Twins ballpark bill, so Knoblach will gain the spotlight for awhile.
Whether the ballpark bill will get the 15 hours of committee time it received in Krinkieís committee remains to be seen.
Another attempt at a amending a referendum onto the bill will almost certainly take place.
It could be Knoblachís turn to try.
The actions of Krinkie, Bachmann and Knoblach may reflect sincere beliefs.
Still, the fact theyíre engaged in a tight 6th District endorsement battle is likely not something worried campaign staff need to constantly remind the candidates.
So far this session, none of them has stolen the show.
Posted: 4/17/06
Capitol Views: Can the Da Vinci Lombardi Code be deciphered?
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Minnesota politics has its own version of the ìDa Vinci Code.î
Actually, itís the ìDa Vinci Lombardi Code.î
By way of explanation:
Last week Arizona Senator John McCain visited the state, and the appearance of the possible 2008 presidential candidate enlivened speculation on Gov. Tim Pawlentyís national ambitions.
Would Pawlenty consider a possible vice presidential slot on a ticket headed by one of his heroes, McCain?
He certainly didnít rule anything out.
Asked if he would he would serve out the full four years of his next term ó assuming he runs again and is reelected ó Pawlenty spoke movingly of family roots to the state and didnít answer the question.
But maybe, in a way, he did.
Pawlenty at the press conference last week listed three personal heroes: McCain, the late president Ronald Reagan, and Green Bay Packers legendary quarterback Bart Starr.
Bart Starr?
Coach was the Mighty Lombardi
Well, Pawlenty was starting elementary school during the latter Packer glory years of the 1960s when a fiery, passionate coach named Vince Lombardi had the Packers dominating pro football. And quarterbacking the team was Number 15, Bart Starr.
A bright kid like Pawlenty no doubt could recite all kinds of facts and statistics about Starr, the future Hall of Famer.
For instance, Starr probably wasnít on many lists of hot prospects when he was drafted by the Packers in the 17th round in 1956.
In political terms, the University of Alabama product might have been labeled a dark horse.
After a slow start, Starrís talent at managing the game began to assert itself and the Packers began to win.
A clever tactician, Starr had a habit of throwing deep in short yardage situations, confusing the defense, keeping them off balance.
His off-the-field behavior was impeccable.
Perhaps Starrís most famous moment came during the 1967 NFL championship game against the Dallas Comboys at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
With the windchill at 45 below, Starr darted into the end zone during the closing moments of the game to take the team into the Super Bowl.
Not that it matters, but President Bush hails from the Lone Star State.
Lombardi trusted Starr.
It was Starr, itís said, who suggested the quarterback sneak against Dallas and Lombardi told him to go ahead and try.
Vince Lombardi may have been the best NFL coach to ever draw a breath but he was a complicated man.
Lombardi was intense, emotional, demanding
Lombardi could be intense, emotional, overly demanding. Players, such as the great Green Bay Packer offensive lineman Jerry Kramer, had a love/hate relationship with Coach Lombardi.
Curiously, that same kind of relationship exists between some Republicans and Senator John McCain.
At any rate, Pawlenty named Bart Starr as one of his three heroes last week.
It may be easy to dismiss this as a fond boyhood memory.
It didnít seem to be offered as such.
And listing Starr along with McCain and Reagan gives it a kind of status.
Selection of a personal hero, common sense argues, often says more about the person making the selection than the hero.
Does Pawlenty the politician see himself as a 17th round vice presidential draft choice awaiting the discerning eye of a political Vince Lombardi?
And does a Lombardi out there sense a natural ability in the Midwestern governor?
Until Pawlenty makes a definitive statement about serving out a second term, itís a matter of wringing inference out the encrypted language of politics in trying to decipher his political future ó the Da Vinci Lombardi Code, others.
Pawlenty may only need to peek at the Rand McNally.
Posted: 4/10/06
Capitol Views: Big, bad wolves for proposed sales tax dedication for outdoors may be sports stadiums
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
The big, bad wolves for the proposed sales tax dedication for the outdoors may be professional sports stadiums.
Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, and Sen. Dallas Sams, DFL-Staples, are both pushing sales tax dedications this session.
Hackbarth, after seeing his legislation morph in committee from a chrysalis into a gaudy butterfly of a bill, has regained his one-eighth of one percentage point existing sales tax dedication.
(Two constitutional amendments still fluttering about the bill like moths).
Samsí bill proposes a three-eighths of one percentage point sales tax increase for various outdoor initiatives and the arts.
Both lawmakers want their proposed constitutional amendment dedications to go before the voters in November.
But will a large number of voters be in a surly mood about sales taxes?
Enter professional sports stadiums.
Both the Twins and Vikings stadium proposals contain sales tax increases.
15 cents on $100 purchase
To help finance the proposed 42,000-seat, open air Twins ballpark in Minneapolis, the Hennepin County Board proposed a countywide sales tax increase. It translates to about 15 cents on a $100 purchase.
To the north, the Anoka County Board also proposed a countywide sales tax to help finance a 68,000-seat, retractable-roof Vikings stadium envisioned for the City of Blaine.
The proposed three-quarter of one percentage point sales tax increase translates to 75 cents on a $100 purchase.
Both Twins and Vikings stadium boosters seek a voter referendum exemption.
They donít want to have to hold one.
Whether voters in these two counties go to the polls in serene acceptance of their countywide sale tax or embittered by the lack of a referendum may not be inconsequential to the fate of the outdoor sales tax dedication.
Combined, Anoka and Hennepin county voters make up a huge block of Minnesota voters.
Indeed, as of Thursday (April 6) there were some 3,088,615 registered voters in the state.
In the 2004 election, about 821,000 Anoka and Hennepin county residents cast a ballot.
Though an imperfect comparison, the county vote totals suggests that a quarter of the state voters could head for the polls in November with decided feelings about the sales tax.
Hackbarth says he has dwelled on these numbers for a long time.
One or both will fail, says Hackbarth
ìOne or the other or both will fail,î said Hackbarth of an Anoka County sales tax referendum appearing on the ballot along with an outdoor dedication containing a sales tax increase.
He views it essential that a proposed outdoors sales tax dedication not raise taxes.
For his part, Sams has a ìroll the diceî attitude toward his outdoors and the arts constitutional dedication.
While acknowledging that the stadium issue could influence voters, Sams added that thereís no guarantee a proposed constitutional amendment will ever clear the Legislature.
He views Hackbarthís bill, with its constitutional amendments, as something of a mess.
Odds of all three stadiums ó Gopher, Twins and Vikings óbeing addressed this session was seen as unlikely, but now House Speaker Steve Sviggum talks of a taking a vote on the formerly orphaned Vikings stadium proposal.
Rep. Andy Westerberg, R-Blaine, Vikings stadium author, is ìabsolutelyî certain a Vikings stadium vote will take place on the House floor.
Should lawmakers pass professional sports stadium bills without or even with local referendums, the mood of a big portion of the electorate could be affected.
Along with her knitting and perhaps a photo ID, grandmother could bring to the polls an attitude.
(The use of the big, bad wolf allusion in no way is intended to disparage or otherwise villainize these amazing animals. Humans, like wolves, belong to the same web of life though the former tends to use it as a trampoline.)
Posted: 4/3/06
Gopher stadium bills on the fast track
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Itís got mojo.
Gopher stadium bills sprinted through two legislative committees last week and itís possible a Gopher bill could come off the House floor late this week (April 3).
The legislation has everything going for it.
For starters, lawmakers seem primed to pass a Gopher stadium bill ó indications looked good weeks prior to start of session.
The University of Minnesota is after all, they argue, a state institution.
Professional sports may leave. The university will not.
Perhaps, too, worried that voters see them as chronically at impasse, lawmakers look to passing the Gopher stadium bill as proof the legislative machinery works.
But itís more than that.
Short weeks ago Rep. Denny McNamara, R-Hastings, and Joe Duggan of Pheasants Forever were discussing a bonding project when talked turned to the future of the universityís vast UMore Park in Dakota County.
The two men struck upon the idea of having a land swap with the state, using the exchange to help fund the $248 million cost of constructing a 50,000-seat, on-campus Gopher football stadium.
Itís brilliant marketing strategy.
And if little pheasants appeared over the menís heads instead of lightbulbs, the birds were roosters, beat their wings and cawed.
Less than two weeks after McNamara took the idea to university officials, a revised Gopher stadium bill including a 2,840 acres UMore Park land swop was finding the seam through committees towards daylight.
But the initiative's good fortune goes beyond and timing and a ìwin/winî land deal, as proponents depict it.
To watch university officials testifying before House and Senate committee last week was to witness a superb exhibition of salesmanship.
The human spectrum was covered.
University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks brought a sageness, Football Coach Glen Mason a brisk, can-doitiveness, and when Athletic Director Joe Maturi told of his first visit to old Memorial Stadium as a boy, a tear detected in his eye couldnít automatically be ascribed to a stray drop of liniment.
These guys were on a roll.
And why not?
The universityís antennas are as sensitive as any twitching at the Legislature.
Bruininks believes they had the votes for the Gopher stadium even before UMore Park.
Heís probably right.
(By way of contrast, Twins, Vikings officials often seem beleaguered; they lean on video presentations when sheer enthusiasm often carries the day.)
As a final selling point, university officials spun the Gopher stadium into the ultimate product: the irretrievable.
The on-campus stadium is not really about football, they argued. Itís about the university experience.
How astute.
Almost anyone over 30 recalls college or university days as a succession of firsts; a spacious time in which the best exertions of mortality served only to brighten the leaves.
At any rate, a Gopher stadium bill may be quickly heading to Gov. Tim Pawlentyís desk for his approving signature.
This is not to say there arenít possible snags.
The legislation could get entangled in Twinsí or Vikingsí legislation, complicating matters.
Some grumblings are heard that student fees are used to help fund the Gopher stadium, and some lawmakers find stadium naming rights as inappropriate.
But at the moment, things look bright for the Gopher stadium.
Indeed, if lawmakers canít ride this wave, prospects for the Twins and Vikings seems awfully bleak.
Posted: 3/27/06
Legislative session thus far has been anything but a stately progression down Bipartisan Lane
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Even benign intentions poured into the test tube of democracy can produce unpredictable reactions.
At least the 2006 legislative session suggests this.
The session was supposed to be short and linear ó a bipartisan excursion from Point A to Point B with a bonding bill, some tax relief to show before the lawmakers, all according to plan, promptly finished to return home.
That latter part could still happen.
But the session has been anything but a stately progression down Bipartisan Lane.
Itís gotten unruly.
Last week the state witnessed the astonishing spectacle of the Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, a man of the cloth, having an ethics complaint filed against for lying to a ministerial association.
While that in itself may have caused the progression to falter, things could have gotten worse.
To get to the bottom of things, the Senate ethics committee would probably have had to draw in even further the Minnesota Supreme Court ó a revered body where people are called ìjusticesî and of which truthfulness and propriety is assumed, not something to be gently probed for by some committee.
Faced with this awful scenario, ethics committee members in essence drew a line and refused to cross it.
And while this helped close the episode, the politics will continue to fester as without a finding of guilt or innocence, the prevaricating prelate angle remains open to pro same-sex marriage ban amendment activists.
Now the ethics complaint might be seen as a sideshow ó something separate and alien to the session itself ó if the same untidiness wasnít found in other places.
Recent House tax committee hearings were another examples of messiness.
The tax committee had before it a sales tax dedication bill that would have dedicated a fraction of the existing sales tax to fish and wildlife.
5 hours of hearings
After five hours of hearings, Rep. Tom Hackbarthís, R-Cedar, legislation had been altered into a sales tax increase dedicated not only to fish and wildlife, parks and trails, but the arts, too.
The precise fractional amount of the dedication changed so often Norm Abram would have keeled over at his workbench watching it.
It wasnít just this: Rep. Phil Krinkie, R-Lino Lakes, amended a motor vehicle sales tax constitutional amendment onto Hackbarthís proposed amendment.
Not to be outdone, another lawmaker amended a same-sex marriage ban amendment onto it.
If currently approved by voters, not only would Hackbarthís proposed amendment dedicate sales tax revenue but ban same-sex marriage among hunters and anglers riding commuter rail, or something like that.
Hackbarth was not amused. ìThey just made fools out of themselves in this committee,î he said as his bill was voted out the door.
Still, the Senate version of the sales tax dedication had senators wiggling in the chairs.
Sen. Chris Gerlach, R-Apple Valley, argued the dedication was really a confirmation the legislative process didnít work. ìWeíre throwing up our hands and giving up on it,î he said in Senate Finance Committee last week.
Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, countered by arguing the dedication was ìa display of our valuesî ó something honorable, commendable.
But a sense of a clean line was absent even as the dedication passed.
ìHesitantly, yes,î Sen. Pat Pariseau, R-Farmington, said when the committee secretary called her name during the vote.
Flawed measure of legislative tidiness
Maybe the sales tax dedication is a flawed measure of legislative tidiness. There almost seems something therapeutic to it, as lawmakers who have signed no new tax pledges vote to send a tax increase for the voters to decide.
New Ages therapies can be excessive; pillows can get flung and rebirthing cause a general giddiness among middle age newborns.
But then maybe nothing new is being born at all.
Maybe what weíve seen is just a continuation of the gamesmanship and partisanship that has marked earlier sessions, because thatís reality.
Good is distilled from baseness and disorder.
Posted: 3/20/06
Capitol Views: Reaction surrounding Senate Majority Leader Johnson actions takes on different perspectives
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
The late Don Knotts would have appreciated the storyline at the Capitol late last week.
Knotts, who played Barney Fife, the rubbery deputy sheriff on the old The Andy Griffith Show, would have been whipped up over the revelation that a pastor had lied ó embellished, doctored up, fibbed ó to a group of fellow clerics.
Sheriff Andy Taylor, sensing the teachable moment, would have pulled the pastor aside and advise they confess their untruthfulness and apologize ó the moral thing to do, and not bad PR advice either.
ìTo err is human, to forgive Divine,î Gomer would have repeated standing at the gas pump as a carload of bemused reporters pulled away, heading back to Raleigh.
But things arenít quite so simple.
While Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, never used the L-word in depicting his comments to a group of rural pastors regarding conversations he supposedly had with Minnesota Supreme Court justices, Johnson certainly acted repentant.
Not that it matters in a sense, but Johnsonís comments were taped without his knowledge by one of the pastors at the meeting with recording surfacing last week when pro marriage amendment supporters brought it to light.
The Republican Party of Minnesota launched a radio ad campaign.
Jeff Davis, of Defense of Marriage, called the tape the ìsmoking gun.î
Puzzling actions
Itís puzzling why a smart, savvy politician like Johnson would be traipsing through the state telling pastors that the Minnesota Supreme Court wouldnít touch the same-sex marriage issue. On ìAlmanacî on Friday (March 17), Johnson said the pastoral meeting was the fourth meeting of the day.
He was tired; itís was close to the anniversary of his wifeís death.
And he was frustrated, Johnson said.
A pastor had suggested the Ten Commandments be enshrined in the state constitution, he explained. ìIt almost knocks me off my feet when I hear these kinds of things,î said Johnson. He again apologized.
ìThat was not truthful what I said to those pastors,î said Johnson coming pretty close to saying he had lied.
The gay marriage issue is the toughest heís ever dealt with, Johnson once said.
Thatís probably exactly the case.
One of the most gripping images of the bitter debate is one of state troopers escorting Johnson out of the Capitol at close of session in 2004 ó pro amendment supporters lingered on the steps to the Senate late into the night.
ìJust vote,î said House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, appearing with Johnson on ìAlmanac.î
The votes to pass the amendment donít exist in the Senate, Johnson opined.
Second hearing would have similar outcome, says Betzold
Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, has often said his committee would hold a hearing on the amendment this session. The committee heard the legislation in 2004, and it failed. Betzold has suggested a second hearing would have a similar outcome ó the makeup of the committee hasnít changed much.
The makeup of the DFL-controlled Senate has changed.
Recent special elections bolstered Democratic control by two seats ó DFLers hold a nine-vote majority.
One Republican, Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, has indicated while he could support an amendment including a civil union provision, he couldnít support one without.
Some speculate that Senate DFLers will ultimately offer an amendment containing a civil union provision, knowing Republicans couldnít accept it.
That would give rural DFL senators a vote to show their constituents
At any rate, the politics over the proposed same-sex marriage ban constitutional amendment will only sharpen in upcoming days.
Rallies for and against planned for the Capitol.
Mayberry saw nothing like this.
Posted: 3/13/06
Blandness in Pawlenty address may be a sign of the times
Any speech that begins with a singing Swede and ends with a lighthouse certainly has aspirations.
Whether Gov. Tim Pawlentyís recent State of the State Address was politically effective can be argued. In tone the 40-minute speech altered between chitchat to chiseled encouragement.
ìNostalgia is not a strategic planî lent a boardroom briskness to part of the address.
It sounded Republican.
Pawlenty liked a lighthouse metaphor he used, reciting a list of beacons of hope ranging from Dred Scott, subject of the famous U.S. Supreme Court decision that jumpstarted the American Civil War, to the Minnesota Corn Growers.
ìI want this historic building to be a lighthouse again,î said Pawlenty of the Capitol.
Well, its certainly proven itself a shoal.
Pawlenty snuck in a quotation from President Kennedy at the close of the address, whether as leavening or bipartisan display, who can say.
The State of the State seemed more workmanlike than elegant.
The music in the lines was a little faint.
Thatís hardly a criticism.
Given the sheer volume of words spoken at the Capitol it might be supposed that good speeches statistically occur once every seven to ten days.
Not true.
Generally the most graceful phrases during a legislative session come from private citizens testifying before committees or standing stiffly at the podiums.
Many lawmakers are capable of producing memorable one-liners; few can take the floor and speak with an elegant certitude derived from something else than circular logic.
If political oratory has declined across America, television is high on the list of culprits.
Politicians realize that if their speeches make it on-air at all, it will be perhaps for five seconds ó a sentence.
Whether that sentence, then, has a relationship to the following or to the former becomes an existential question network television is unequipped to answer.
State of the Union Addresses are more a list of menu options than a cohesive message ó chose and pick what you will.
Thatís not by chance.
In fairness to speech writers, crafting a speech today is probably tougher than in the past.
Language has been politicized.
For instance, words like ìwelfare,î ìregime,î ìchoice,î ìvoucher,î others, carrying political overtones beyond their dictionary meaning.
And thereís more: overtures to Divine Beings must be generic.
Gender and other variables must be balanced, weighed.
This may be necessary, good.
But instead of starting with a palate of vibrant words, speech writers begin with light grays and a constricted canvas.
The results are predictable.
Admittedly, great rhetoric is often a response to great events or great challenges ó a rising above the tumult and lunging at the ineffable.
When Winston Churchill delivered his thunder, he was less worried about the next election over the horizon than waves of German bombers.
President Lincolnís beautiful addresses emerged from a fratricidal bloodbath.
Maybe blandness should be welcomed as an indication of a wellbeing.
Donít bet on it.
If thought corrupts words, words corrupt thought, warned George Orwell.
But people must listen.
Posted: 3/6/06
Capitol Views: Republican legislators Kathy Tingelstad and Michele Bachmann bring different styles to the Capitol
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Two North Metro Republican women have risen into prominence by very different tracks.
Yet the attainment of one womanís goal this legislative session makes the attainment of otherís less likely.
Rep. Kathy Tingelstad, R-Andover, and Sen. Michele Bachmann, R-Forest Lake, came to the Capitol from different places.
Bachmann entered the Legislature exuding a prophetís fire, lighting up the Senate floor and using descriptions of deviant behavior as common coinage in the same-sex marriage debate.
She, of course, has championed the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and has become its lilting figurehead ó she once said sheíd hate that if it were true.
Yet, Bachmann is so identified with the issue that at a recent press conference a proponent was asked whether the senatorís recent health issues could hurt the odds of success.
Bachmann has changed over the last several years. Gone now is the ear-popping rhetoric. She speaks relatively little on the Senate floor, and generally the same is true in committee.
Bachmann is now much more politic, polished; having the set pleasantness often seen on figures in Washington. And, thatís exactly where the senator wants to go.
Unlike the senator with her pearls and now legendary highheels, Tingelstad seems more like the earnest middle management person intent on an unspoken goal.
Her rise to prominence began more quietly than Bachmannís.
Luck or misfortune
She had the luck, or dreadful misfortune, to become chief author of the Northstar Commuter Rail legislation and for several years nursed the project through a series of political setbacks in the House.
Her quiet tenaciousness had some of her fellow Republicans calling her a ìcaucus busterî and led to one searing moment on the House floor where the quietness parted and it could be seen Tingelstad had paid an emotional toll for her doggedness.
But Tingelstad, if she didnít enter the Legislature with an eagerness to reach across political aisle, developed it in the Northstar fight where she could be seen crossing back and forth on the House floor like a pendulum.
Perhaps Tingelstadís big day so far came last year when the House approved Northstar bonding.
But actually, Tingelstad has many other legislative interests from curing ìsickî school buildings to trying to prevent the causes of prostitution.
Again, a lot of this has been done quietly. But Tingelstad has won a committee chair and her picture now can be seen on the pages of Greater Minnesota newspapers.
This is not to imply that Bachmann lacks steeliness for she has it and if her great legislative moment comes this session ó the marriage amendment passes the Legislature ó thereís no question she played a substantial role advancing it.
Ironically, this is where the success of one lawmaker may thwart the success of the other.
Tingelstad has been calling for an end to partisanship and helped craft legislative reforms with idea of making the process less confrontational.
To an extent ó and perhaps to a great extent ó the divisive marriage amendment will make engendering bipartisanship at the Legislature more difficult.
This maybe awful, or just fine, depending on point of view.
Johnson says mariage amendment will dominate session
Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, recently said without relish that the whole session will be about the marriage amendment. Last week amendment supporters launched an biting ad campaign against a dozen senators.
How forcefully Bachmann pushes for marriage amendment remains to be seen. But it seems likely, or even unavoidable, that sheíll play a key role.
Tingelstad has voted for the amendment in the past.
At any rate, the two women lawmakers seem to be working unintentionally at cross-purposes this session.
Neither is likely to stop.
Posted: 2/13/06
Capitol Views: Health care impact fee on cigarettes sits before the high court
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Russell Anderson probably isnít the type to hurl a thunderbolt were the capacity at his fingertips.
Yet the high court is part of story that could impact the upcoming legislation session, a drama containing twists seemingly out of mythology.
Center stage is Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his 75-cent health care impact fee on cigarettes, a proposal that closed the last special legislative session and broke a state budget impasse that had resulted in a partial government shutdown.
The impact fee renewed debate on whether the governor had violated his no-new-tax pledge. Pawlenty, as everyone knows, signed the pledge during a Republican party endorsement fight in which he ultimately triumphed.
But itís risky to strike bargains in the shadow of Olympus.
Yet the ìfeeî versus ìtaxî rhetoric whetted by the session-ending impact fee might have slowly lost its edge hadnít Ramsey County District Court Judge Michael Fetsch ruled last year that it violated the agreement former Attorney General Skip Humphrey had crafted with Big Tobacco in 1998.
The judgeís ruling seemed to come out of the blue.
The tobacco companies, at least with Judge Fetsch, successfully argued the agreement left them immune to further claims.
Now the case sits before the Minnesota Supreme Court. Should Judge Fetschís ruling be upheld by the robed justices, itíd punch more than a $350 million hole in the state budget.
Ye gods!
Legal battle comes at bad time for Gov. Pawlenty
Politically, the legal battle comes at a bad time for the governor. Itís an election year, and a decision will rejuvenate talk about mangled pledges and hair-cleaving semantics.
However the high court rules, the results will be unappealing for the governor.
Should the Supreme Court uphold the lower court ruling, the governor, while gaining the small concession of seeing his impact fee enshrined as such, could lose the money.
If the stateís argument sways the court ó one concluding that the health care impact fee is really a tax ó the governor might keep the millions but must live with striking legal evidence that he broke his pledge.
Pawlenty has always insisted the impact fee is a fee, not a tax.
All this might seem a minor diversion in gubernatorial politics hadnít the Supreme Court ruling hold the potential for affecting the legislative session.
It does.
Superficially, the justices, by throwing out the health care impact fee, could serve to reopen old political wounds. This at a time when lawmakers, going into an election, want to hold rancor to a minimum and publicly speak of cooperation and a willingness to work with others.
And then thereís the loss of the revenue.
Just last week, House Republicans listed property tax relief and the elimination of the marriage penalty as key caucus priorities for the upcoming session.
This takes money. And having to fill a budget hole sucks up dollars that might otherwise have gone to make voters happy.
Could do nothing
Theoretically, the state budget surplus could plug the potential budget hole. Indeed, one option, should the state lose the impact fee revenue, is to do nothing, the governor has opined.
No one knows when the Supreme Court will render a decision. Lawmakers donít seem to be holding their breath.
ìWe have to plan now for what we have available,î House Speaker Steve Sviggum said last week, detailing House Republican spending priories.
Good enough.
But how would lawmakers react if the high court lightens their purse? Politically, would it make them less eager to tangle with stadiums or pass a hefty bonding bill? Perhaps.
As for the governor, the unfolding drama less illustrates a tragic flaw than the unpredictability of politics.
But someone might want to check the Capitol ìLost and Foundî box for a ball of wax and some feathers.
Posted: 1/31/06
New gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson puts different light on state race
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
A new face in the gubernatorial race and the departure of another from the U.S. Senate contest accented state politics in recent days.
Last week (Jan. 25) former finance commissioner Peter Hutchinson, at an impressive announcement in Minneapolis, formerly entered the governorís race.
Billing himself an Independent ó someone without party affiliation ó Hutchinson is expected to seek the Independence Party endorsement.
It might be wondered whether party activists are troubled by Hutchinson distancing himself from the Independence Party, but apparently theyíre not.
Independence Party Chairman Jim Moore said the party has always been more concerned about the application of centralist ideals than party adherence.
So the third party is more a state of mind than a diagram on a chart.
Hutchinson can meditate that the Independence Party, as a major political party, can provide him with access to state campaign funds.
And thatís no small favor.
(To return it, Hutchinson can win at least five percent of the vote so the party can keep its major party status).
Hutchinson belittles the idea that he will only serve as a ìspoilerî in the governorís race ó throwing the race to another candidate while unable to clench victory for himself.
Itís hard to spoil a political system thatís already spoiled, he joked.
But a person might wonder.
Stance on social issues
Hutchinsonís stances on social issues ó opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, considers the question of abortion already resolved by the courts ó suggests he might attract voters more left of center than right.
That could help Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Then again, he rejects state-sponsored gaming and views the stateís role in building professional sports stadiums as limited to infrastructure.
Once upon a time, these latter views might have be seen as Republican.
Anyway, why should he or any other third-party candidate worry about collateral damage at the polls, it might be argued.
Grabbing votes away from other candidates is the whole idea.
While Hutchinson entered the governorís race, Patty Wetterling dropped out (Jan. 20) of the DFL U.S. Senate scramble.
Wetterling threw her support to Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar while offering the vaguest explanation on why she decided to quit the Senate race. Wetterling called her decision to drop out ìa personal decision;î it could be hardly any other.
At any rate, the child safety activist was soon linked to Attorney General Mike Hatch as a possible running mate for Hatch in his gubernatorial bid.
If such a teaming is envisioned - one media report has it no longer is - it makes a degree of sense.
Wetterling could provide the warmth and empathy the feisty attorney general may not habitually exude.
But eyes, too, turned to the 6th District. Wetterling ran for Congress in the 6th against Rep. Mark Kennedy in 2004, and itís wondered whether she would give it another try against another Republican.
Tinklenberg had Wetterling assuance
Former Ventura Transportation Commissioner El Tinklenberg, the presumptive Democratic candidate, said his entry into the race was based on Wetterlingís assurances she would not run again in the 6th. Whatever was said, it might be wondered whether itíd wash politically for Wetterling to reenter the congressional battle.
Obviously, the race was no longer her first choice.
Would 6th District voters ó for that matter, DFL delegates ó embrace a seemingly opportunistic candidate?
Speaking of the 6th, John Wodele, former Ventura press secretary and current political consultant for Tinklenberg, recently presented some campaign poll results.
Assuming the results reflect valid polling ó which is sometimes a brave assumption ó itís interesting to note in the poll Tinklenberg was found to have a slim lead over Rep. Phil Krinkie, R-Lino Lakes, while trailing Sen. Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, by three points.
Krinkie and Bachmann, along with Rep. Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, and businessman Jay Esmay of St. Cloud, are all Republican congressional hopefuls.
In another campaign poll, the Bachmann camp has the senator with 29 percent of district delegates, followed by Knoblach, Krinkie and Esmay with 17 percent, 10 percent, and 4 percent of the delegates, respectively.
(Krinkie, for one, notes that endorsement takes a majority of the delegates, not 29 percent ó he questions the poll or surveyís significance).
But do the two polls results hint broadly at dynamics in the race?
Time will tell.
Posted: 1/16/06
Gubernatorial politics brings skirmishing in new year
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Gubernatorial politics the first days of the new year brought skirmishing, a running mate selection, the political emergence of the undead.
Itís been busy.
Attorney General Mike Hatch began 2006 with a focus on privacy law, an exercise which evoked sharp words for the man he hopes to replace, Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Hatch, to whom a shrinking violet is a consumer issue, let loose at the governor, labeling him ìCulprit Number Oneî in allowing Minnesota driverís license data to slip out and be used by scam artists.
But in a jujitsu move, Pawlenty, though sounding alarm bells over Hatchís rhetoric, agreed with the attorney generalís main thrust on the need for addressing privacy issues.
The sound of something deflating was almost audible.
A gentler Hatch later questioned Pawlentyís pedigree as a privacy advocate, but also backed his biometrics proposal ó the scanning of faces as a means of certifying the person pictured on a driverís license is really the one whose name appears.
Thus ended Round One, with both gentlemen adjusting their ties and returning to their offices on opposite sides of the Capitol hall.
A dynamic of a campaign appeared: fire and ice.
Wealthy businessman Kelly Doran made a big step in his campaign for governor by selecting Sen. Sheila Kiscaden of Rochester as his running mate.
Comfortable in front of cameras
Kiscaden, who has evolved or devolved, depending on point of view, from the Republican to Independence to the Democratic party, is a serious lawmaker, comfortable in front of TV cameras.
Yet, some reporters were left pondering why Doran made the choice.
Presumably, the Doran/Kiscaden ticket will appear on the ballot in the Democratic primary.
Assuming the bulk of the voters going to the polls on primary election day are activists, people wondered whether Kiscaden will attract support from more liberal voters.
(Or is Doran the more liberal of the two?)
Doran and Kiscaden ó the latter a self-diagnosed centralist ó talk of a changing Democratic Party and appealing to the mainstream crowd.
In a hard rain on primary day, will they show up?
Impaler enters the race
Certainly the most colorful manifestation of the gubernatorial race in young 2006 was the entry of Jonathon ìThe Impalerî Sharkey into it.
A resident of Princeton, Sharkey is the hope of the Vampyres, Witches and Pagans Party.
His proposal for dealing with evildoers in the state is to impale them outside the Capitol like memos on an office spike.
Sharkeyís gubernatorial announcement on Friday 13th in Princeton drew television crews from the big city and Sharkeyís dietary and political convictions were widely reported in the media.
Pawlenty on Friday morning commented that it takes all kinds, which may set a new standard for understatement for months to come.
Still, perhaps thereís no reason why a vampire canít be governor.
The Capitol rotunda is certainly cavernous and the building lacks a Hall of Mirrors where the absence of a reflection might mare important bill signings.
Backbiting, if not neckbiting, is well established in politics.
Anyway, the gubernatorial campaign season is obviously under way.
Itís somewhat curious, though, to note that the Vampyres, Witches and Pagans Party has attracted more intensive media coverage recently than Minnesotaís third major political party, the Independence Party.
Of course, the Independence Partyís apparent gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson hasnít yet declared his candidacy.
State Party Chairman Jim Moore indicated that would come at the end of the month.
But late last week, Minnesota gubernatorial politics focused on a different figure in the shadows.
Posted: 1/3/06
Capitol Views: The year 2006 will be a lavish one for political junkies
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
The new year will be a lavish one for political junkies.
Minnesotans will elect a governor, constitutional officers, a congressional delegation, a House and Senate.
Exciting races are almost the norm.
In the governorís race ó presumably Gov. Tim Pawlenty will seek a second term ó establishment Democrats, Attorney General Mike Hatch, Sen. Steve Kelley and Sen. Becky Lourey, are vying against a wealthy, telegenic outsider, Kelly Doran.
Has the legacy of Gov. Jesse Ventura sharpened or dulled the publicís taste for blunt-speaking newcomers?
And whatís happened to the Independence Party?
Businessman Peter Hutchinson is presumably the IP gubernatorial standard bearer yet all is quiet while the calendar unfailingly leafs toward Nov. 7.
In the U.S. Senate race, Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, child safety advocate and icon Patty Wetterling, and veterinarian Ford Bell are all vying to take on Republican 6th District Congressman Mark Kennedy for a six-year term as U.S. Senator.
Again, an interesting race with the DFL scramble likely decided by a primary.
Will the DFL candidates chop each other to pieces along the way?
For his part, Kennedy comes into the U.S Senate race prepackaged with a quiver of practiced comments and explanations.
Is pendulum swinging away from Republicans?
How will such a predictable candidacy fare when early signs in Minnesota ó recent special elections ó hint the political pendulum might be swinging away from Republicans?
Time and voter turnout will tell.
And what of Kennedyís old district, the 6th?
Here, the multitude of candidates are Republican ó Sen. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Jim Knoblach, Rep. Phil Krinkie, and businessman Jay Esmay.
In a way, the 6th District scramble resembles the DFL gubernatorial fray with an array of establishment candidates plus a newcomer, former U.S. Air Force C-130 pilot Esmay.
Which way will Republican delegates at Monticello High School sway first weekend in May at the district convention?
Former Ventura Transportation Commissioner El Tinklenberg of Blaine faces no opposition for the DFL 6th District endorsement and on social issues uses language moderate voters may find soothing.
An exceptionally fine race to watch. (And vote in, if a district resident.)
But even before the election plays out, the Legislature will convene in March knowing its actions, tone, accomplishments and failures could spill over into November.
Repeat of last session not wanted by lawmakers
There is no way most lawmakers want a repeat of the last sessionís meltdown that left teeth-clenched motorists zipping past closed rest areas and bears forlornly inspecting empty trash cans in state parks.
No, most lawmakers want this session to unfold like a civics lesson. Theyíll want to come in, act Roman and clear out.
A projected state budget surplus should help lubricate the process.
What will lawmakers leave behind along with a few beach towels?
Some predictions offered
While predicting the actions of the Legislature is always a small study in recklessness, a few predictions are offered:
ïA Golden Gopher stadium bill will readily pass the Legislature, while a Vikings stadium bill will not.
In keeping with the spirit of the stadium debate, a small wager of someone elseís money might be placed on another Twinsí stadium bill being OKíd by lawmakers.
ïThe proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage will have a Senate committee hearing, be defeated, and not have a Senate floor vote ó Senate DFLers gained two seats in recent special elections and have a firmer grip.
Conservatives may focus on eminent domain and immigration as substitute issues.
ïThe increased Senate DFL majority makes it less likely gaming legislation will clear the Legislature. Gov. Pawlenty, after last yearís failed initiative, has indicated he may let gaming go.
ïThere will be a big bonding bill ó something approaching billion dollars. Northstar commuter rail will get its additional bonding.
While on transportation, the Department of Transportationís proposed increase in maximum truck weights will be a hot issue.
So will bird flu. Especially if worrisome developments take place internationally.
At any rate, 2006 offers a delightful menu of politics.
Come Nov. 8, political pundits will pat their rebellious bellies and talk of the utter impossibility of losing weight.
Posted: 12/19/05
Secretary of Health and Human Services cautions state officials to be prepared for possible bird flu pandemic
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Minnesotans arenít exactly home alone, but nor should we expect the U.S. government to take care of everything during a bird flu pandemic.
That was one of messages Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt brought to the bird flu summit last week in St. Paul.
It may have been unnecessary.
One post-Katrina reality is that state emergency response officials take for granted no help will come from the shining federal city on the hill for several days following a major disaster.
Indeed, during a recent Senate hearing, one state official described the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), buried somewhere in the bowels of the Department of Homeland Security, as dysfunctional.
So Leavittís cautionary advice didnít drop jaws.
But beyond lowering expectations, Leavitt urged state officials to be prepared and the public to be aware, of a possible bird flu pandemic that could break out at any time.
Some of the statistics Leavitt cited were chilling.
Could kill 30,000 Minnesotans
One sobering estimate has that a bird flu pandemic with the intensity of the 1918 ìSpanish fluî pandemic could kill 30,000 Minnesotans.
Oddly, young adults are the demographic group likely to be hardest hit.
Currently, world health officials are worried about a strain of bird flu, designated H5N1 after its particular surface structure, that on a limited basis has succeeded in crossing specie barriers and sickening humans.
So far, H5N1 is believed to have killed fewer than 100 people in Asia. But health officials worry that the virus will further mutate and begin to run rampant.
Similar scenarios have played out many times in the past.
In the late 1960s, a Hong Kong flu pandemic killed about 34,000 Americans.
History records worst.
One of the most infamous pandemic in history was bubonic plague or The Black Death ó a name derived from the black spots appearing on its victims ó a pestilence that came out of China and following the trade routes, entered European seaports in the 1330s.
Carried by fleas, bubonic plague raged furiously across Europe. Itís estimated a third of the continent died.
The plague took two forms and contemporaries were astonished by the speed it claimed its victims.
A person could take lunch with friends, wrote one Italian chronicled, and have dinner with the saints.
In Britain, by air, outlines of Medieval villages can still be seen that were wiped out by plague and abandoned.
So many people died, labor shortages plagued Europe between visitations of the Black Death.
It must have been terrifying. And completely demoralizing.
Prevention measures to be taken
Preventive measures included wearing cones on the nose filled with spices, charms containing the secret word ìabaracadabara,î attacking minority groups.
Amazingly, even these preventives were not surefire.
Flagellants roamed from despairing city to despairing city, whipping their backs and praying the pestilence be lifted.
One contemporary poet in a litany in time of plague wrote, ìBeauty is but a flower/ Which wrinkles will devour.î
What haunting resignation.
Of course, people were almost wholly ignorant about diseases. Many tended to view the plague as Godís wrathful response to a sinful humanity.
Some would still make the case.
Modern science generally understands where epidemics come from, how they spread, steps that can be taken to contain them.
The word ìpreparednessî might be the secret word worn about the neck as a charm today.
Officials recommend people remain aware of possible pandemics, keep a weekís worth of food at home for a possible emergency, have a family communication plan and take simple precautions such as washing hands.
No one knows when a bird flu pandemic will occur, or if it will occur.
But a blanket ignorance of pandemics today can only be seen as willful.
And to that extent, itís the saddest form.
Posted: 12/5/05
Capitol Views: Governor flying high following most recent economic forecast
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
It may be better to give than receive, but itís hard to do the former without the latter.
Thatís why spirits soared last week at the Capitol.
The stateís November economic forecast (Nov. 30) projected an impending $1 billion state government surplus ó the first positive projection in almost five years.
Sighs of relief were almost audible.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty termed the budget turnaround historic and launched into a recital of things Minnesota led the nation in, omitting turkey production which could have invited controversy over whether egg production or turkey production actually ranks first.
If the governor was high flying, itís understandable.
The state budget surplus might be seen as the muscular outcome of his no new tax regimen, though a small sampling of local lawmakers had most pointing to the national economy as responsible for the state surplus rather than the actions of Minnesota politicians.
Technically all the surplus dollars are already spent.
By law, some $701 million is slated toward buying back K-12 budget shifts while $337 million is dedicated toward tax relief.
Take this with a grain of salt.
If lawmakers want Monday to be Tuesday and have the votes, it can be done.
When all is said and done with the budget surplus, things will likely look differently.
Up for grabs
What one north metro lawmaker said last week of the $337 million might be said of the total ó itís up for grabs. It may be asking the impossible of lawmakers in an election year to keep the $337 million, for instance, in reserve until a firmer long-term economic picture emerges.
The stateís panel of economic advisors may argue state budget reserves are inadequate, but their's is a small voice. And a smattering of votes.
Indeed, the governor did not wholly commit to using the $701 million to buy back the K-12 budget shifts ó it was something to work towards, he said.
Thereís all kinds of speculation on what the governor might want to do with the surplus.
Could Pawlenty be considering buying down his 75 cents per pack health care impact fee on cigarettes?
Conservative Republicans disdain the ìtax,î and Pawlenty took heat on the fee which helped close the interminable special session last summer.
One local senator argued that at least nationally ó and the governor does seem interested in crafting a national image ó it made no sense for Pawlenty to try restore his driven snow image on raising ìtaxes.î
Sen. Chris Gerlach, R-Apple Valley, said Pawlenty spent political capital, crossed a line with the cigarette fee increase, and thereís no turning back.
Well, how will lawmakers spend the surplus?
Most ó perhaps all ó of the $701 million will be used for the prescribed education funding buyback, it might be wagered.
(The same week the November forecast was released, a group of education associations released a study they believe shows Minnesota schools are underfunded to the tune of $1 billion).
Lawmakers mention property tax relief as a use for the tax relief surplus, and no doubt there will be many other spending proposals and a good deal of debate when lawmakers return to the Capitol in March.
Each got a piece of the action
Those who remember the Ventura years and the ìboatloadî of surplus dollars remember the famous one-third, one-third, one-third budget agreement in which Gov. Ventura, House and Senate, each got an equal piece of the action to spend as they saw fit.
But that was back in the days of tripartisan government. Something less tidy will likely emerge next year.
Along with the positive projection comes the near certainty of a bonding bill next session ó close to $1 billion.
Recent political events in Minnesota suggest Republicans could be facing a tough election next November, and Republican objections to a big bonding bill will likely not be too strident ó especially among Greater Minnesota Republicans.
As a suburban DFL senator recently explained, the bonding bill is a bigger deal in Greater Minnesota than in the bustling metro.
A big bonding bill bodes well for Northstar Commuter Rail supporters, who are looking for about $58 million in state bonding to fulfill the stateís share of capital cost for the project.
Actually, it bodes well for all the incumbents who are rarely hurt by showing up on votersí stoops with a brochure and local project in hand.
Posted: 11/1/05
Gov. Pawlenty's somberness catches national eye
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Gov. Tim Pawlentyís somberness on Minnesota Public Radio last week (Oct. 27) caught the national eye and slipped into a Sunday morning political show.
CNNís Judy Woodruff, appearing on NBCís ìMeet the Press,î cited the governorís diagnosis about the Republican Party being ìon the ropes,î though not mentioning Pawlenty by name.
In a story in a metro daily about the radio program, Pawlenty is quoted saying heíd be lucky to get reelected governor in Minnesota next year ó either a quip that fell flat or a stray bit of candor.
All of this from a politician whose biggest selling point is probably his upbeat, cheerful personality.
Pawlentyís unusual gloominess came the same week that Attorney General Mike Hatch declared his long anticipated candidacy for governor.
It also came about the time DFLer Kelly Doranís effective get-to-know-me $500,000 television ad buy began running on television.
Hatch declared his candidacy at a gathering of the Minnesota Nurses Association in St. Paul ó access to health care will be his No. 1 issue, said Hatch.
He unveiled no large initiative, other than later suggesting that a state health care program could be a starting point for reform and opining that a single-payer approach probably wonít work on the state level.
On paper Hatch seems a formidable candidate.
Hatch was elected attorney general in 1998 with about 48 percent of the vote ó he edged out Anokaís Charlie Weaver ó and handily won reelection in 2002 with 55 percent of the return.
Pawlenty took the three-way governorís race that year by winning about 48 percent of the vote.
Difficult to predict outcome of governor's race
Trying to predict the outcome of next yearís gubernatorial election by 2002 returns might be a study in self-deception. While the numbers suggest that Hatch is the stronger statewide candidate, Hatch and Pawlenty, after all, were running for different offices in 2002.
Strengths voters see in a candidate for a one office may not necessarily transfer to another.
At any rate, Hatchís announcement at the Radisson Riverfront left things to ponder.
In taking reportersí questions in the hallway after his speech, Hatch came across as defensive, guarded.
Itís understandable behavior for an attorney general but less understandable for a gubernatorial candidate.
And Hatchís explanation that he would abide by the DFL Party endorsement if the caucuses met his expectations did not exactly clarify the matter.
Indeed, Pawlenty, the next day, said he had to chuckle at Hatchís answers. Pawlenty might have chuckled more often while being interviewed by veteran political reporter Kerri Miller on MPR. The Republican was off his game.
Hard week nationally for Republicans
Admittedly, last week was a hard one nationally for Republicans with a White House official indicted, a Supreme Court candidate failing, and the 2,000th Iraq War death being recorded.
Locally, shocking polling results from two different polls showing St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly trailing challenger Chris Coleman by about 35 points in the mayoral race seems a disturbing omen for Republicans.
Though a Democrat, Kelly endorsed President Bush last election and polling suggests that heís taking an angry backlash from St. Paul voters.
Pawlenty once said heíd stand by President Bush if the presidentís approval rating was at 2 percent.
Itís not likely Pawlenty will have the opportunity to do that, but if events in Washington are coloring state politics it must be a worry for the governor.
A fresh-face candidate like Doran ó assuming he can win the primary and thatís a major assumption ó might be helped by such an unsettled political climate.
Of course, the elections are a year away and a single event can turn the political equation on its head.
But perhaps some basic forces are at work.
Posted: 9/12/05
Capitol Views: Sentiment and decorum combine to make it look impossible for Pawlenty to call another special session
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Sentiment and decorum have combined to make it impossible for Gov. Tim Pawlenty to call another special session.
At least that seems the common wisdom for the moment.
There may be something to it.
For one thing, the idea of calling back 201 lawmakers to St. Paul, the same crowd that just cleared out in July after a seven-month encampment, doesnít seem to appeal to voters.
According to House Public Information Services Office poll of almost 9,000 state fairgoers, almost 70 percent of respondents nixed the notion of the governor calling a special session to deal with sport stadiums ó the stadium shadow follows lawmakers across the seasons.
Now a Flat Earth Society statistician may declare the methodology of state fair polls sound, but those who suspect factors beyond Earth, Wind and Fire taint polling results, view these findings with a degree of skepticism.
Still, itís probably safe to assume the divining rod has picked up something lurking beneath the surface.
Legislative leaders might be reluctant to tap.
At least among local lawmakers there seems little enthusiasm for another special session.
An informal survey of some 21 legislators showed about two-thirds uninterested in returning again to St. Paul.
ìIím not getting any clamoring (for a special session) from constituents or anybody else,î declared Rep. Bruce Anderson, R-Buffalo.
Hurricane Katria deals hardest blow to possible special session
What dealt the hardest blow to a possible special session was Hurricane Katrina and itís shocking aftermath. For lawmakers to return to the Capitol to dally over luxury items like stadiums while the bodies are still being counted in Louisiana and Mississippi seems a political impossibility.
Whether unfair or legitimate, questions emerging from the rank floodwaters ó basic questions about to whom government actually owes allegiance ó could be transposed onto the Legislature at this painful national moment.
Do legislative leaders want to field these questions?
Does putting off Vikings, Twins and Gopher stadium legislation until the regular legislative session in March really matter?
It might.
House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, recently explained that House Republicans want a tidy regular session focused on the bonding bill.
Dealing with prickly issues like stadiums during a special session could help insure tranquility in the regular session ó that seemed the Speakerís logic.
That lawmakers would want the next session to unfold like a graceful piece of choreography is easy enough to explain: the 2006 general election.
Recent sessions harsh and messy
Both House and Senate members face reelection and recent legislative sessions have been messy, bitter, drawn out. Public opinion has been harsh.
Now is the time for harmony. But that might be hard to achieve.
Take the Twinsí ballpark legislation, for instance. One central issue is whether Hennepin County taxpayers should first be allowed to vote on a countywide sales tax proposed to help pay for the ballpark.
This is red meat stuff.
Will lawmakers become more insistent about a referendum next spring, closer to the election and their date with destiny, than they might be further months away?
Thatís possible.
And it could raise the political temperature beneath the White Dome.
What kind of heat will legislative leaders tolerate?
At what point will they simply want to set troublesome issues aside and glide into the election?
Thatís anyoneís guess.
But itís possible that if lawmakers canít address controversial issue like stadiums prior to the regular session, they may opt for tidiness in the spring and set them aside for another day.
Posted: 8/15/05
Why would Gov. Pawlenty want to call a special session?
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
One question lingering at the Capitol is whether thereíll be a special session.
When lawmakers finally cleared out of the Capitol in July, that Gov. Tim Pawlenty would call a special session later this year seemed plausible ó even likely.
Legislative leaders seemed open to the idea.
With prior agreements, lawmakers could come back to the Capitol for a day or two, pass a Gopher stadium bill, perhaps a Twins ballpark bill, do one or two more chores and go home.
But that was then.
Presently, thereís little talk about holding a special session. And in one sense, why would the governor want to call one?
Pawlentyís job approval rating had dipped into the lower 40 percent level in past months, and the Republican chief executive faces reelection next year.
The moment is prime for Pawlenty to refurbish his imagine, and the past weeks have provided the governor with a splendid opportunity to do some patchwork.
Quiet on gubernatorial campaign
For one thing, the gubernatorial campaign hasnít really started yet. While Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, has declared his candidacy for governor, either by design or bad luck Kelleyís campaign has been fairly quiet. Attorney General Mike Hatch is generally seen as another hombre who will challenge Pawlenty in 2006. But so far, not a peep has come out of Hatch concerning his gubernatorial ambitions. At least not officially.
Pawlenty, back in 2001, declared his candidacy in early September. But of course, this is no template and Hatch could easily wait weeks, even months, before declaring his.
At any rate, for the moment, with lawmakers out riding in parades and the gubernatorial race simmering, Pawlenty has had a wonderful opportunity to do some PR work.
And heís been at it.
A sweltering morning in late July saw Pawlenty boarding a Tennessee Walker and with a Wishbone-style cowboy hat enveloping his cranium, take a brief horseback ride in front of the Capitol when an itinerant missionary paid a call.
The event, as might be expected in the politically lean dog days of summer, drew heavy media coverage.
And it was the kind of moment Pawlenty the politician excels at.
Just short days later, Pawlenty captured another media moment in his response to a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) initiative.
In a letter to the governor, a PETA official depicted the sport of fishing as barbaric and something to be discouraged.
The letter was part of fish empathy campaign in which the animal rights group portrays fish as sensitive, clever, possessing bubbly personalities.
Pawlenty's reaction to the letter was to order a walleye dinner, another crafted moment covered by the media that put the governor in an endearing impish role that helps to erase memories budget cuts, cigarette fee increases, and endless legislative sessions.
It was great PR.
Good visibility for Pawlenty
Pawlenty has visited Greater Minnesota, unveiled a business deal in St. Cloud courtesy of his Job Opportunity Building Zones (JOBZ) program, called for accelerate wetland preservation through the spending of future federal duck stamp revenues, and in general has had some very good weeks.
Itís unlikely his job approval rating is languishing in the 40s anymore.
So why would the governor want to call a pack of unruly lawmakers back to St. Paul and disturb such politically productive tranquility?
The Minnesota Twins seem intent on a mediocre season, so there'll be no triumphant parade to add urgency to a baseball park.
Whether the Legislature addresses a Vikings stadium in November or March, during the regular session, doesnít seem to particularly matter.
Getting a Gopher stadium under way might please some voters, but, again, it probably can wait.
Pawlenty in recent weeks has placed the odds of a special session at 60/40 ó the odds against.
Perhaps heíll call one.
But with the gubernatorial campaign in a lull, lawmakers scattered all over the state, the governor is show at the Capitol right now.
Why not make the most of the moment?
Posted: 7/27/05
Capitol Views: How do you express consternation or disgust over an event or individual?
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
(Excerpt from ìThe Politicianís Handbook.î)
At times it becomes politically expedient to express consternation or disgust over an event or an individual.
The question, then, is how best to do it?
How? Be ìoutraged.î
The word ìoutrageî summons the image of a person driven by the indefensible actions of others to the extreme limits of emotionality.
Besides the obvious advantage of quotability, being ìoutragedî provides an office holder with wiggleroom in articulating the exact source of their outrage.
Anyone whoís ìoutragedî is plainly too upset to be expected to provide a dispassionate appraisal of the misdeed in question ó an advantage when details are lacking.
One rule of thumb is to avoid being ìoutragedî over the squandering of goods or services under $500.
An expression, even in the political field, can be overworked.
Health rumors
Itís probably better to be simply ìsickenedî by smaller screw ups, though to provide this self-diagnosis too often could result in health rumors.
There are other expressions politicians can use to help keep their indignation fresh and lively.
One overlooked word is ìregrettable.î
On the surface, this may seem like a flabby, toneless expression ó the barest acknowledgement that a great wrong has been committed.
Actually, a skillful politician can use this word with great effectiveness.
Itís a matter of timing.
For instance, assume a member of the opposite political party has been accused with a conflict of interest.
A novice politician is likely to proclaim their ìoutrageî over the conflict.
Not bad, but the utterance invites the charge of partisanship.
Much better to take the floor and in a flat tone conclude, ìItís (silently count, ëOne, Two, Threeí) regrettable.î
If properly timed, the pause suggests a mustering of self-control ó a statesmanís willingness to swallow their personal ìoutrageî with an eye towards finding a just resolution.
What could be nobler?
Remember: the pause is everything.
Too short, a politician can look feeble.
Too long, and they can seem absentminded, lost for words.
(And good heavens, donít count to three by nodding the head or holding up fingers like a drowning victim.
And, yes, itís been done.)
Some expressions of ire are suited for some audiences, less suited for others.
For instance, to stand before a largely college educated crowd and profess being ìappalledî over an event is probably an effective display.
"I'm appalled"
But in addressing a general audience possessing a general vocabulary, the declaration, ìIím appalledî may be misunderstood to mean the speaker is an adherent to some trendy self-potential program that has them firewalking, or worse, bespeak third party affiliation.
Be careful!
Another questionable, high-brow word to avoid is ìdespotic,î unless addressing a dry cleanersí convention in which the word is perfect ó conjuring up the bane of their craft.
Think audience! Think visual!
Some words of exasperation to avoid all together includes ìspeechless,î which will almost certainly incite a catcall of ìgood.î
Another word is ìshocked,î which suggests an undesirable naivete about the workings of the world.
Sooner or later, a member of your own party ó god forbid yourself ó will commit a political offense of some sort and you may be pressed to comment.
A good expression to use under these circumstances is ìunfortunate.î
It suggests the confluence of universal streams clearly outside the control of mere mortals ó beyond good and evil, beyond the next election, with luck.
Fate absolves all.
Perfect.
Posted: 7/18/05
Capitol Views: How badly banged up are state lawmakers?
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
One lingering question is how badly banged-up lawmakers are politically coming out of the special session.
Uneasiness seemed to cut through the comments of legislative leaders last Wednesday (July 13) as colleagues gathered up personal belongings and walked out into the sweltering St. Paul night.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty seemed to share the angst.
The governor normally comes across as upbeat, kindly, self-depreciating. But last week, he seemed to alternate between defensiveness and boastfulness.
ìThere is no governor within the modern history of the state who has done more for transportation than me,î Pawlenty modestly asserted to reporters on Thursday (July 14).
ìThereís only one person in the whole place that took on their own (special) interest groups,î Pawlenty opined, referring to the cigarette fee increase that he proposed.
Pawlenty broke character once before when he began to uncharacteristically criticize media coverage. But like the ìMeî offensive last week, that didnít last long, either.
At least Pawlenty seemed back in form during an appearance on public televisionís ìAlmanacî on Friday (July 15), though he indicated he was leaving behind a certain phase of his political life.
No pledge signing this time
ìIím probably not going to be signing anybodyís pledges,î he said, referring to the celebrated Taxpayerís Leagueís no new tax pledge that rightly or wrongly, helps define the Pawlenty years. The Taxpayer League accuses the governor of breaking the pledge, so whether Pawlenty formally signs on the dotted line again seems a moot point.
Pawlenty resents the notion that somehow heís politically anchored to a piece of paper.
With a degree of peevishness, he argues that he routinely takes on conservative monoliths and the idea heís frozen by a pledge is pure bunk.
David Strom, of the Taxpayerís League, agrees.
At any rate, presiding over the first state government shutdown in Minnesotaís 147-year history is not something gubernatorial candidates wants on their resume.
It may not matter.
While a recent poll by Survey USA showed Pawlenty with a 43 percent job approval rating, any resentment voters currently feel toward the governor or other elected officials will likely have mellowed by the time they go to the polls in 15-months.
Who really remembers the crashed bonding bill of a year ago, after all?
The lost public safety bill?
Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, seen as a potential gubernatorial candidate, stood close enough to Pawlenty over past weeks to have been splattered with political tar.
Will Johnson be a candidate?
Johnson called Pawlenty a ìstatesmanî the night the budget agreement was reached, which is interesting because itís not typically the language of a challenger. Of course, the lofty is the common currency of politics. But Johnsonís words left some wondering how serious he really is about running for governor. Perhaps the idea has come and gone.
Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, an announced candidate for governor, runs with the same Capitol crowd as Johnson and Pawlenty and if an anti-incumbent mentality emerges, probably it is as spotted as anybody else.
Attorney General Mike Hatch generally kept a low profile during the special session.
But again, if an anti-incumbent sentiment is felt in the polling booths, certainly a political warhorse like Hatch will be lumped in with the rest.
Barring another protracted legislation session next year, a throw-the-bums-out election in 2006 seems unlikely.
Itís been unpleasant to watch events at the Capitol over the past weeks.
Most people donít dwell on unpleasant things.
Posted: 7/11/05
Capitol Views: Budget deal agreed upon was actually on table a month ago, says Pawlenty
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Gov. Pawlenty intimated while signing the ìlights onî resolution early Saturday (July 9) morning the budget deal that finally closed the eight-week special session had been on the table a month ago.
Those who have watched the talks over the past months are not shocked by this revelation.
Samuel Beckett, the existential playwright, could have gleaned a play out of these negotiations.
But finally last weekend, a deal was struck.
Pawlenty recently opined that Senate DFLers were ìrolledî in 2003, and therefore pledged themselves to a combative, ìNever Again!î mentality.
If so, it worked.
They didnít get rolled this time. But neither did they get everything.
Such is compromise. This is countered by that.
MinnesotaCare preserved
Senate DFLers preserved MinnesotaCare ó a big priority item ó and saw about $800 million in additional K-12 funding, though some of the revenue comes from property taxes and in fairness Republicans, too, wanted to throw more money at K-12. (DFLers may have done Pawlenty a small political favor in keeping MinnesotaCare intact. There seems something ruthless in cutting the health insurance program, whatever the fiscal rational.)
Two education reforms the governor wanted will become law.
Democrats successfully stymied a persistent Republican effort to have racino, ostensibly with the White Earth Band of Ojibwa tagging along, in a revenue package.
While doing this, Senate DFLers discarded their proposed income tax increase on the rich.
In a sense, both proposals were more symbolic than well-oiled and ready.
Racino has shaky support among House Republicans, and during the regular session couldnít get out of committee.
And there seems little chance the House was willing to pass an income tax increase on the 40,000 big-money Minnesotans.
State government shut down for 8 days
All in all, Senate DFLers protected their flock ó the state government shutdown lasting only eight days ó reasserting themselves as players at the Capitol.
Still, though collars wilted last Friday night, it had more to do with humidity than a drenching in glory.
The special session and partial state government shutdown has been a messy, messy affair.
Political advantage is measured in who it sullied the least.
One player distinguishing themselves in terms of accepting political risks was Gov. Pawlenty.
The governorís 75 cents per pack cigarette fee increased, enshrined in law as a health care impact fee, was a key component in cutting a budget deal.
Arguably, most suburban Republican voters do not smoke and a cigarette fee increase will not cut into their pocketbooks nor personal habits.
Yet conservatives, in whatever language the fee increase is couched, likely view it as a tax increase and remember a certain pledge and a certain signature.
Indeed, many House Republicans openly refer to the health care impact fee as a tax increase, and donít waste breath drawing distinctions.
Rep. Krinkie resigns from tax working group
Rep. Phil Krinkie, R-Lino Lakes, House Tax Committee chairman and 6th District congressional candidate, resigned from the tax working group last week, explaining in a letter he couldnít support a cigarette fee increase.
Sixth district delegates would probably have no problem obtaining a copy of this letter.
(Senate DFL Tax Committee chairman Larry Pogemiller, the bane of Republicans, endorsed Krinkie, calling him ìthe Real Deal.î Krinkie remains in the race.)
Anyway, a certain political aura with the governor may have gone up in smoke.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, called Pawlenty a ìstatesman,î both praise and a kind of confirmation.
According to schedule, lawmakers should flee the Capitol late this week and return to their respective homes and districts.
Their seven-month excursion will be over.
Many items remain on the table ó stadiums, transportation funding, constitutional amendments.
Pawlenty hasnít ruled out another special session later this year, so perhaps lawmakers might return to The White Dome and pass a Twinsí ballpark bill.
Itís hard to view the special and regular sessions as exhibitions of purposeful and deliberate government, but in the end there was compromise.
Thatís better results than a year ago.
Posted: 7/5/05
Capitol Views: Days and events of Thursday, June 30 seem inexplicable
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Even at a distance of days the events of last Thursday (June 30) night seem inexplicable.
As most people know, Thursday night was the eve of the partial state government shutdown.
And as most people know, too, Senate DFLers ó within minutes of an upbeat appraisal of on-going budget negotiations ó suddenly adjourned with more than two hours left to the midnight deadline.
From a PR standpoint, it was likely the most foolish move executed at the Capitol in years, perhaps decades.
Many of the legislative dramas at the Capitol are sufficiently complex that the average person has a tough time sorting them out.
This wasnít like that. This was very simple. Democrats and Republicans had to come to a budget agreement or thousands of state employees could be laid off.
That was the story line.
And Senate DFLers, after passing a lights on bill they knew Republicans would not accept, walked away.
Itís one thing to withhold an olive branch from an opponent, something else again to furnish them with a club.
Republicans trashed Senate DFLers ó trashed Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson ó for deliberately setting out to close down state government.
Sviggum says DFLers wanted shutdown
ìThe DFL has wanted to shut down government from the beginning,î an angry House Speaker Steve Sviggum said shortly after Johnson had entered the virtually empty Senate chamber and motioned to adjourned. ìI hope itís obvious that this was premeditated,î said Gov. Pawlenty.
What happened?
Johnson has offered a number of explanations. He cites faulty communications, a bad Republican budget offer, tiredness, and the surfacing of ìintelligenceî that House Republicans were preparing to launch a Scud attack ó a series of politically-charged amendments ó at the Senate last Thursday night.
Pawlenty pooh-poohed the latter explanation, explaining that an iota of strategy between House and Senate Democrats could of had House DFLers delaying the alleged Scud attack while their Senate compadres quickly adjourned.
(From a PR standpoint, why not let House Republicans launch their Scuds and take the heat for playing politics at the eleventh hour.)
Johnson Friday morning rejected Republican allegations that Senate DFLers set out to shut the place down. ìWe never, never talked about a government shutdown in a pro active way in the Senate Democratic caucus,î said Johnson.
Sen. Leo Foley, DFL-Coon Rapids, agreed, saying he had never heard a conversation within the caucus about deliberatively shutting down state government. ìNot only have I not heard that, Iíd never have supported that at all,î said Foley, saying politics wasnít a good enough reason to put people at risk.
Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, backed Johnson and Foley.
ìIt (a shutdown strategy) was not a caucus conversation,î he said.
But how to explain the Grand Bounce?
Miscommunications may have played a role.
Indeed, itís hard to see how it hasnít played a large role in the entire state budget impasse, as the focus wavers between legislative leaders, committee chairs, and now even rump groups.
Republicans have charged they donít know who to negotiate with among the Democrats. Senate DFLers have made exactly the same charge about Republicans.
DFL wants governorship, House control
One theory is that an inner cabal of big city, liberal Senate DFL committee chairs are calling the shots within the caucus and are so obsessed with winning back the governorship and House, they sport an ends-justifies-the-means mentality.
Well, union officials were not pleased by the events of last Thursday night. And state workers probably tend to vote Democratic.
Punishing the base doesnít seem a winning recipe for victory in 2006.
Johnson said he did not act unilaterally in adjourning ó he first spoke to six, eight DFL senators before entering the empty Senate chamber.
Precisely why he did what he did will be debated for a long time.
Pawlenty theorized that Senate DFLers, who got ìrolledî in 2003, he said ó arguably assuming a degree of responsibility ó have perhaps adopted a guiding principle of ìNever Againî which at times makes them act irrationally.
ìThey got rolled and I think now weíre being visited by the Ghost of 2003,î he said.
If the Capitol is haunted, both sides contributed to letting loose the spirit.
Posted: 6/27/05
Capitol Views: Shutdown, who is at fault?
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
On Thursday (June 30) some state agencies will run out of funding unless lawmakers rush legislation into law very quickly.
As of Monday (June 27), legislative leaders had not yet brokered a budget deal.
How stark will be affects of a partial government shutdown ó itís it overblown?
And whoís at fault?
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, in a recent op-ed piece blamed ìmedia mogulsî for nurturing an atmosphere of fear about the possible government shutdown and a general loathing toward government in an effort to sell their shabby products.
ìWe are enslaved to their redundant fault-finding criticism,î wrote Emmer, spleen sparkling.
Well, thereís always switching channels or turning the page.
If the media moguls are trying to scare the dickens out of everyone, in a sense a possible state government shutdown is thin stuff.
While a partial shutdown would affect more than 15,000 state employees and carry other serious implications, it would take days, weeks, before the average Minnesotan is inconvenienced.
True, it would be the first time in state history that state government had shut down because of inaction by the Legislature.
But donít lose track of Paris Hilton, media moguls.
Other than causing some anxious moments on the freeway for motorists from closed rest areas or campers being turned away from state parks, life would continue.
Off the record
Whether the Pawlenty Administration had some cigar-chomping media deity in mind or simply felt the need to unburden, last week it proposed an entirely off-the-record session with Capitol reporters. This has never happened before.
Information gathered by reporters could not be attributed to the governor; information could not be attributed to an unknown source ó these were some of the proposed groundworks for the session. The whole thing fell apart ó best that it did. But plainly, the administration is concerned about how the story is being told.
Itís been some tough weeks for the governor.
Even House Speaker Steve Sviggum faults Pawlenty for calling a special session within minutes of the close of the regular session without any overall agreement.
Governors can call the Legislature into special session, but they canít tell it what to do. For that matter, they canít tell it go away. Anyway, Pawlenty has been criticized for this.
And then there that business with Attorney General Mike Hatch concerning the AGís ability or willingness to divest himself of his political ambitions in representing the state in court on the budget petition.
Why did the governor want to gum up the relationship with the AGís Office at a critical time?
And there was something a little glitzy in Pawlentyís call for legislative leaders to fly to Camp Ripley for a lock-the-door budget summit with no one leaving the military base until a budget settlement was reached.
But if Pawlentyís image has been tarnished a tad, so has Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnsonís, it might be argued.
Johnsonís decision to visit Louisville, Ky., short days before the possible shutdown ranks as one of the biggest PR mistakes of recent days, though Senate staff insists he was on a National Guard related mission.
The mission just happened to occur on the day Ramsey County Sheriff Patrick McGown was in Louisville to accept an award.
No matter.
Pawnish and irresolute
Although Johnson takes apparent pride in the operation of the Senate DFL caucus ó itís model of leadership where consensus is the basis of decision, Johnson has explained ó he sometimes comes off looking pawnish and irresolute. And this is in living memory of Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe.
And then thereís the celebrated policy journey that had Johnson early in the session talking about adequate state revenues and later overseeing a proposed Senate DFL income tax increase on the wealthy ó originally a billion dollar tax hike.
Sviggum believes that in a government shutdown everybody would get a dash of blame.
ìI suspect a quarter of the people will blame the DFL; a quarter will blame the Republicans; and fifty percent will blame everybody,î he said last week
ìItís a lose for everybody ó itís a lose for the citizens of Minnesota; itís a lose for state workers; it certainly a lose for our state politicians,î he said.
If the media is in a dark feeding frenzy, it must be admitted state leaders have been throwing ample political chum in the water.
And Paris Hilton is talking about retiring.
Posted: 6/20/05
Capitol Views: Sixth District congressional race becoming more interesting
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
An already 6th District congressional race became more interesting last week.
Former Ventura Administration Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg formally announced his intention to run for Congress in the district as a Democrat.
Tinklenberg made his announcement at the National Sports Center, a sprawling athletic complex that took shape during his 10-year stint as Mayor of Blaine.
Indeed, Blaine, which like much of Anoka County offered breathtaking panoramas of rusting cars and the storage potential of open field, to a great extent moved into its modern era during the Tinklenberg years.
Tinklenberg worked for Anoka County as a high ranking official, but became a statewide figure as transportation commissioner.
The Ventura Administration had an ambitious transportation vision, but also had Gov. Jesse Ventura who never gained a knack for dealing with the Legislature.
(John Wodele, Venturaís former press secretary, is helping the Tinklenberg campaign with communications).
Tinklenberg brings other, perhaps more vital attributes to the 6th District race.
Authenticity and weightiness
Tinklenberg is an ordained Methodist minister, which lends a certain authenticity or weightiness to his perceptions on social issues like abortion or same-sex marriage. Passing references to the intentions of the Almighty is a constant in American politics, and itís probably safe to assume that an ordain minister has at least seriously contemplated these heavenly intentions.
Tinklenbergís religious background spills over into the issue of abortion.
A Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) spokesman once told a reporter that 6th District was one of the strongest ìPro Lifeî areas in the state.
A veteran, acute observer of Minnesota politics offered a reporter a guarantee that an abortion-rights candidate could not win in the district.
At any rate, Tinklenbergís apparent anti-abortion rights stance is probably a political asset.
Of course, the commissioner is running as a Democrat and staunch anti-abortion rights voters quite possibly would not support him for that reason regardless of his personal beliefs.
But to other voters, it could weigh in the Democratís favor.
Tinklenberg said he supports the definition of marriage as between a man and woman ó he also wants human rights ensured for gays and lesbians, he explained.
Tinklenbergís views on marriage could be especially important in the race as one potential Republican candidate, Sen. Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, is a conservative strongly associated with the issue.
Another interesting dynamic in the race will be the transportation debate.
Republicans have already indicated they intend to go after Tinklenberg for his work as commissioner and as a transportation consultant.
Rep. Phil Krinkie, R-Lino Lakes, another potential Republican congressional candidate, is a fierce critic of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line and the Northstar Commuter Rail Line.
Supports commuter rail
Tinklenberg pushed for both controversial projects. Still, it might be wondered how politically effective it would prove attacking Tinklenberg on either project. Northstar, after being held in check by Republican conservatives in the House, was finally bonded during the regular session with the backing of Gov. Pawlenty.
To attack Tinklenberg on Northstar is indirectly to attack the titular head of the Minnesota Republican Party.
Hiawatha might be a different matter to an extent, but recent television footage of crowded light rail coaches and smiling passengers can neutralize a lot of talk about cost overruns and poor location.
Complicated, old debates donít necessarily make good campaign issues, anyway.
Although Tinklenberg cut a figure in Anoka County and at the Capitol, heís probably less known in the district than a Krinkie or Bachmann ó or for that matter, a Cheri Pierson Yecke or Rep. Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, other Republican congressional contenders.
Beyond this, Democrats have had a dry spell in the 6th District.
Patty Wetterling, a solid candidate with moral authority and magical name recognition, lost to Rep. Mark Kennedy last election.
Itís notable Wetterling, who pulled in about 46 percent of the vote, did not choose to run in the 6th District again.
But Tinklenberg is a different candidate. And with Kennedyís decision to run for the U.S. Senate, the lid came off the district.
This will be a race thatís fun to watch.
Posted: 6/13/05
Capitol Views: Rep. Mark Olson continues to speak out about abuses of legislative process
Capitol Roundupby T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Rep. Mark Olson doesn’t fit the mode of an Instigator, the guy who lites the fuse to a revolt and plugs his ears.
Yet the exceedingly polite Big Lake Republican might be playing the role in the Minnesota House.
Whether a reformer because he’s outside the caucus or outside the caucus because he’s a reformer, Olson has long spoken out against perceived abuses of the process at the Legislature.
At the close of one recent session, lawmakers bleary-eyed and slumped in their chairs as early morning sun filtered into the chamber, Olson rose and castigated the body for a cavalier disregard of the rules.
This type of finger waving does not necessarily win friends and influence.
But it sets the stage.
Olson sees the handling of the special session — the give and take between legislative leaders as lawmakers sit idly by — as deceptive, undemocratic, self-serving, with Gov. Pawlenty as an active member in budget negotiations breaching separation of powers.
“I don’t see it as working against my leadership,” said Olson of a resolution he’s pursuing that could crack open the House.
“We’re expecting our leaders to negotiate without being able to say they have the support for what they’re offering,” said Olson late last week.
Olson is doggedly attempting to pull a resolution he authored out of the House Rules Committee and bring it to the floor.
It would have House members deciding how much to spend on education, human services, and other areas of government — decisions legislative leaders are attempting to carve out.
The resolution includes no set dollars amounts — that’s how he’s gained support for it, said Olson.
It allows for tax increases.
Four times on the House floor Olson has attempted to pull his resolution out of Rules and failed — he needs a supermajority of 90 votes.
“That’s the biggest hurdle,” said Olson.
Still, on each vote Olson gained support — 21 to 108, 41 to 80, 45 to 75, and on Monday (June 13) 57 to 65.
“He’s in the mid-40s,” Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, cheerily said last week, sticking his head into Olson’s office.
The resolution touches a cross section of the House.
Most of the strength comes from House DFLers.
“I call it the ‘Power to the People’ vote,” said Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, who characterizes budget negotiations by leaders a sham.
Yet conservative Republicans, like Krinkie, Erickson, Eastlund, Vandeveer, and moderate Republicans like Abeler and Tingelstad, have voted for it, too.
Tingelstad spoke of sending the message that they want the special session done.
“It’s kind of ridiculous to come to the (House) floor, do attendance, and that’s it,” she said last week.
Other “Yes” votes may be a reaction against Pawlenty’s proposed cigarette fee increase.
House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, views Olson’s amendment as counterproductive.
“We’d have a 15, 20 hour discussion on the House floor to try to get the (dollar) numbers to put into the resolution, and we’d have no agreement at the end,” said Sviggum.
Whatever the merits of Olson’s resolution, it’s at least tapping into an apparent restlessness on the House floor with the direction of the special session.
The special session is now entering its fourth week and as of the weekend (June 12) no budget resolution seems in sight.
Unless both House and Senate leaders agree to adjourn for a time, discontent will likely increase as House members continue to return to floor, take attendance, go home.
And there’s an Instigator at work.
Olson insists he will keep bringing up his resolution on the House floor. And it’s quite possible the resolution will continue to gain votes as the days of the special session drag out.
Regardless whether a supermajority is ever reached, is it possible resolution supporters could pull themselves into a cohesive body and seriously challenge House leadership?
Perhaps.
In an irony of sort, Olson’s personal approach to governance may limit or exclude him from being a ringleader.
Olson takes pride in never pulling punches — he always tells people what he intends to do even if a surprise could work more effectively.
He so dislikes the concentration of power that he let the members of his Local Government Committee determine which bills to hear, not him, the committee chair.
Such instincts normally do not lend themselves to palace uprisings.
Yet someone has to strike a match.
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