Liberal in the Land of Conservative

This week the projected budget deficit for the state of Minnesota was released and stands at nearly $5 billion. The DFL Caucus from the House and the Senate gathered for a press conference and the Republican Caucus from the House and the Senate gathered for a woe is me session with the press.

Senator Senjem (R) expressed a willingness to work with the DFL to solve the issues but he was quickly followed by Marty Seifert who spent the rest of the time blaming the DFL and whining about how his party had been beaten down because they made "tough" decisions.

The 25 minute DFL press conference revolved around jobs and working families and what it would take to get the state back on track. Time and time again the phrase "everything is on the table" was uttered by the leadership.

The 11 minute Republican press conference revolved around how government is bad and the DFL is bad yet offered few solutions apart from gutting the health and human services budget. Is it any wonder why their caucus has diminished so dramatically over the past few years? When you offer no solution other than gutting government people start to look for some middle ground.

In the Minnesota House of Representatives on Friday, Representative Sertich and Speaker of the House Kelliher discussed the events of the week. It is always nice to hear the optimism of Kelliher and compare that to the frumpy attack machine that is Representative Seifert and the Republican Administration.

Of the items discussed, it seems fitting to note that without DFL leadership (and let us not forget the bravery of the "override six") we might not be on the fast track to a replacement bridge in St. Cloud. Something like 28 projects throughout the state have been bumped up in priority due in no small part to the Safe Roads and Bridges Improvement Act. Nobody likes road construction, but this summer and aftwards when all these projects are being undertaken throughout the state I would remind people that it was the DFL that kept our infrastructure intact and given that only 1,000 people showed up (who knows what percentage were M.O.B members) to scream into the wind about a nickel a gallon gas tax, it just might signal the death nail of the anti-progress forces in Minnesota.

Despite Republican portrayals of the DFL leadership feeling downtrodden about the line item vetoes, the leadership in this video looks far from downtrodden and rather than focus solely on the vetoes is able to tout the positive aspects of what remains. Optimism aside for a moment, Representative Sertich does provide Tim Pawlenty with a much needed smackdown for his "petty" cherrypicking of projects almost solely in Democratic districts.

When the conference turns to the Central Corridor and the veto by the Governor, Representative Kelliher brings up a good point as even people normally on Pawlenty's side have come out to express their disappointment. Chief among them is Senator Norm Coleman:

When asked about a second bonding bill and the Central Corridor, Representative Sertich makes another excellent point by reminding people that Pawlenty was "for the project before he was against it". Perhaps Mr. Pawlenty forgot bringing his neat little powerpoint to St. Cloud in order to highlight his spending projects. Just in case he has, I provide here a snapshot of the slide on Transportation. At this point, it would not be lying to say that Pawlenty is a flip flopper.

Oh, and on a side note to those howling about funding for the Como Zoo I would remind you that Mr. Pawlenty had a zoo of his own when he came to St. Cloud. He intended to provide over $7 million dollars to the Minnesota Zoo which, unlike the Como Zoo, charges admission prices. I would posit that a for profit zoo is far less deserving of bonding money than one geared towards those who cannot afford the admission.

Kelliher continues the conference by displaying the kind of willingness to work together on the budget that Minnesotans should be proud to have in the legislature. She even goes as far as to say that the House of Representatives is willing to move off the budget bill in order to come together. Although Kelliher stands firm on using the Health Care Access Fund to balance the budget, she also indicates that there are many areas in which she is ready to work with the Governor. No word yet on the willingness of the minority to work with the majority.

It is nice to see a legislature moving swiftly through its work after several years in which we have seen little more than the politics of obstruction by the Republican Party. Only time will tell if the forces of obstruction will find a way to destroy the progress that has been made.