Hundreds of people in hard hats came to the Capitol to pound in a message to lawmakers: Create jobs. The folks from the Minnesota Building & Construction Trades Council filled three floors of the Rotunda and spilled out into the hallways. They held signs saying "Put Us To Work" and "We Need Jobs." Perhaps most interesting was the Vikings banner, a sign that these workers would like to be busy building a new Vikings stadium?
The rally was intended to spur action on a "large capital investment bill" and that bill is now moving again. A reworked nearly billion dollar bonding bill passed out of conference committee Tuesday night and could hit the House and Senate floor Thursday. While up in Moorhead, Gov. Tim Pawlenty contradicted Republican lawmakers by saying he "can work with" that bonding bill by trimming it down with some line-item vetoes. The bill includes some of the money the governor wanted for a sex offender facility.
