Almanac: At the Capitol

A popular bumper sticker from the 2004 presidential campaign simply stated: "November 2nd," signifying the date of the election and those displeased with the politics and policies of the Bush administration to change course.

Had that bumper sticker — and the election calendar — been in effect in 2006, the 2007 legislative session would have been decidedly different.

That's because the extra week in last year's election may have made the difference in this year's session as the gubernatorial outcome profoundly changed the potential direction of the North Star state. To be sure, as far as momentous media points in politics, Mike Hatch's media meltdown about the ethics of ethanol policy and reporters' loyalties doesn't compare with Ed Muskie's wet tears in the wet snows of 1972 New Hampshire, or even Thomas Dewey's rage against railroad workers that may have cost him some of the union vote and 1948 election. But as far as session 2007 goes, it still is the defining dynamic that resulted in near status quo.

Had Mr. Hatch won, it's likely the legislature would be looked at historically: Historically bad, of course, to many Republicans who would have watched taxes rise to pay for more state spending. Historically good, however, to DFLers hoping that Minnesota would regain its progressive position of investing in health care, transportation and education. The state would have been significantly different not only in 2007, but beyond, as the spending — and taxes — took root.

Instead, a stalemate that vexes voters and politicians alike now stands, as Minnesota again sits out any decisive action on the direction of the state. And it's likely to stay this way for the next several sessions, unless Governor Pawlenty tires to move from the Mississippi to the Potomac as a veep candidate for Senator McCain, or has other political ambitions. Right now, he benefits by emulating the sport he loves, as he plays defense as a goalie from whatever the DFL throws at him.

How the electorate responds in the future will depend on many factors, but the entire legislative grind may make it harder to recruit candidates from both sides, as well as those passionate about the political process, as voters may grow weary of the ordinary threats of special sessions, governmental shutdowns and little action in either direction.

So, the last few months were most affected by a few moments and a slip of the tongue — first by Judi Dutcher, then by Mike Hatch — that may be one of those accidents of history that may not only have framed Session 2007, but 2008 and beyond.

And after years of the legislature proposing and the governor disposing of new initiatives — including transit funding — there may be plenty of time to look for a new series of bumper stickers, including one supporting one party control — or a third party — to avoid a second decade of inaction.

With the 2007 session now concluded, I can let you know there's some good, bad and ugly in terms of the results and cooperation from the House Republican perspective.

There are lessons to be learned as we head to the 2008 session: When the DFL actually involved the Governor and House GOP, results were bipartisan, well-received and easily passed. These initiatives include the Ag and Veterans package, the alternative energy bills and bills of local interest.

When the DFL ignored the Governor and Republicans, the results were disastrous: The twice botched bonding bill is the best example. The DFL whipped together a huge pork-filled package with little input from Republicans and the Governor. The first time they did this, they got a veto of the whole bill in early May. Almost no discussion took place in terms of the second bill. The DFL and Chair of the Committee never talked to me or the Governor's office on marking up a second bill, but ended up whipping up a second bill and trying to jam it through on the last night. That blew up in their face as we ran out of time. With 2008 being a heavy bonding year, I'd ask the DFL to work with the Governor and the Republicans or a similar fate is going to happen. A reasonable, affordable bill that treats the whole state fairly and is bipartisan had better be in mind. I also think that roads and bridges need to be a high priority and perhaps the MVST/Governor's package needs to be part of the mix in order to get the jam on transportation unclogged.

The recently vetoed Tax Bill is a good example of Senator Pogemiller playing the political "Dr. Kevorkian" by inserting political poison pills into good legislation and, therefore, killing it. He knew full well that the auto-growth factor for government was a killer and a veto for the Tax Bill. He did it anyway and knew many people who liked the tax bill would be angry at the Governor for keeping his word and issuing a veto. Lesson learned for next session: When the Governor says he'll veto something, he means it. Whether it's a porky and oversized bonding bill, a tax increase or other poison pills. Please listen and learn for next time.

For those concerned about the last day of session, keep in mind that the House sat in recess doing nothing well over 6 daytime hours on the last day of session. In the last week of session, we sat in recess for dozens of hours, rather than processing supposedly high-priority items.

The Constitutional Amendment for dedicated funding and tax increases ran out of time, as did the non-negotiated Bonding Bill. A supplemental nursing home funding bill also ran out of time, because the DFL couldn't prioritize nursing homes over their massive welfare programs in the Omnibus Human Services bill. The "Denny Green time management" of the House DFL needs improvement one way or another, but it may be the citizens and rank-and-file DFLers who will need to make this point for the DFL leadership to listen.

Let's take a look at the jam at the end, in which the DFL is trying to blame Republicans for having the audacity of asking how their school kids and nursing homes were treated under the quickly assembled bills:

The House DFL spent $26 billion in its last six hours of the last day of session. Remember that the over-all budget is less than $35 billion.

In terms of spending:

• That is $4.3 billion per hour.


• That is $71 million per minute.


• That is $1.2 million per second.

My question to the DFL, who want to ram unread bills through the legisalature: Could you lend me a few seconds?

The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

It ain't over until it's over. Governor Pawlenty's actions in the next week may turn some of this on its head.

Traffic congestion grows. We use more gas as its price skyrockets.

The Taxpayers League convinced middle income people to oppose tax increases that impacted them in only one way: property tax relief. Now that's ugly.

Last January, I was asked to make a wish list for the coming legislative session which has now (maybe?) come to a close. While I had a number of specific policy initiatives I wanted to see lawmakers act upon, I had one overriding piece of advice: Think big.

Well, some folks at the Capitol must have been listening because there was some big thinking going on up there these past four months about the environment, taxes, transportation, and education. Seeking to rectify the growing regressiveness of the Minnesota's tax system, Democrats passed legislation raising income taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans while providing critically needed relief for working families and homeowners living on fixed incomes trying to keep up with annual double-digit property tax increases, themselves a result of deep and regressive cuts in Minnesota's state aid to cities. They also proposed ways to fund mass transit — the Twin Cities are quickly turning into the most congested urban area in the country — and to lower the costs of attending state colleges.

Unfortunately, the Governor was thinking big, too, except he wasn't thinking big about the state, he was thinking big about his own personal ambitions. Taking a page from the Bush playbook, he vetoed proposals that had the overwhelming backing of Minnesotans — like the proposed changes in income taxes — or forced the DFL to back off other proposals for transportation and education that also had strong public support. All so he can head to the 2008 Republican national convention and be able to proclaim that he kept his "no new taxes" pledge (not to be confused, of course, with a "no new fees" pledge he apparently did not take), even at the cost of the future of the state he purportedly leads. While this may prove to be smart politics in the long run (though I personally doubt his gambit is going to pay off), from a policy standpoint, it is nothing short of disgraceful. Like Bush, a chastened Pawlenty last fall proclaimed that the election had opened his eyes to the need to walk, yea, in the paths of bi-partisanship. Since then — again like Bush — he has continued to operate in the narrowly ideological, highly partisan mode that characterized his first term.

Still, the session was not without its bright spots. In terms of environmental policy it was, arguably, the most significant in Minnesota's history. From the historic "25-by-25" renewable energy bill spearheaded by Sen. Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul), to initiatives to cap and then reduce carbon emissions, to an energy efficiency bill that mandates that utilities cut their use of fossil fuels, it's been a good year for green legislation. Fortunately, Pawlenty chose not to stand in the way of these bills.

On the other hand, none of these green policy initiatives entails an increase in taxes or spending, so his acquiescence was hardly a profile in courage. In a previous blog I referred to Pawlenty as Macho Man; at the moment, Little Big Man seems more apt. Given the field of midgets currently clogging up the race for the GOP Presidential nomination, Pawlenty's smallness may prove beautiful — at least among that party's dwindling base. I suspect the general electorate will not be similarly impressed. To paraphrase an old saying, a Governor all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

That would be my rating for the Governor and the legislative session this year.

Of course, I do tend to be more forgiving than others might be about legislative performance and behavior, given I served in the legislature and have a personal fondness of the place that overlooks the occasional faux paux or partisan invective hurled in debate.

Moreover, I'm aware that we've been doing this legislative thing in Minnesota for nearly 150 years and have gotten pretty good at it. And, after all, one of the legendary heroes of the place, whose portrait graces a Senate committee room, stole a bill as his claim to fame, which kept the capital in St. Paul and would be a felony if done today (and probably was then). Having someone pulled over after a little too much partying after the session, as happened to the President of the Senate, pales in comparison, and at least reminds us these people are human, after all.

We knew going in that the DFL had a large and largely inexperienced majority in the House with an untested leader. We also knew going in that Tim Pawlenty had moderated his tone somewhat, but would still be the key player, as Governor, in the ultimate outcome. Pogemiller in the Senate would be the wild card.

All that, and they got through doing no real harm to anyone — and on time.

There was just enough "kumbaya" in the energy and smoking legislation to show that the DFL majorities and the Governor could work together. The flameout at the end of the session was largely the result of a lack of trust and the parties not being familiar enough with each other to know who meant what when. It helps to know and be able to read your opponent when playing poker. The Democrats saw a bluff where there was a flush.

It certainly was not a good thing to have the Governor's office copying and verifying all correspondence because they could trust the Democrats to tell the straight story about the negotiations. But ultimately, "lights on" bills did pass, and Tim Pawlenty has shown the Democrats beyond any doubt that he will, in fact, veto bills.

Reasonable caution prevailed in this potential political minefield. This frustrated many constituencies in the short term, who seem to be on the DFL majorities for their supposed lack of nerve and conviction. But we do our legislatures in two year doses in this State. And with the Governor and legislative majorities more used to each other, and the House facing an election, next year's short session will be a real firecracker fueled by DFLers that are obviously now starting to feel their oats.

As of the moment I write this, the denizens of the Great State of Minnesota are still not sure whether their governor will sign, line-item veto or completely veto several key pieces of legislation.

We already know that what he says he intends to do has irritated a number of people. Take, for example, North Mankato's solidly (at least until yesterday) Republican mayor Gary Zellmer. Zellmer and the North Mankato city council were hoping that the state — meaning the legislature with the governor's imprimatur — would approve a half-cent local sales tax for that city so it could fund, without raising property taxes, a library expansion, park upgrades and other similar capital projects to improve the local quality of life.

Zellmer and the citizens of North Mankato have seen how successful Mankato's half-cent sales tax has been over the last decade. It has funded the city's civic center and its regional airport with nary a squawk from locals since the initial rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth when it was first being considered.

The reason why Mankato's sales tax has been so popular (if a tax can be popular), despite its proceeds going only to two large beneficiaries — one of which is a nearly direct subsidy for private aircraft owners — is that perhaps 50% or more of the tax is paid by non-Mankato residents — folks from outside the city visiting town to buy stuff, eat out, attend events, whatever.

Some tax purists say this is a form of taxation without representation, but those within the city say that visitors should pay something to use the municipality's roads, parks and other attractions. Even if the sales tax is going for something else — i.e., the civic center and airport — it is lessening the overall property taxes that locals must pay.

Logically enough, the North Mankato folks have seen this sales tax gravy train for quite a while and have been thinking, "Why can't we do that?"

And just as logically one might ask, "Why shouldn't they?"

It is an oddity of Minnesota that the state government must approve local sales taxes. In this sense the state government treats local governments like children: They must have Mommy's permission to do what Mommy does everyday. Does this make sense? Perhaps it once did, but it certainly does not do so today. Generally, government works best when it is closest to the people, and only decisions that cannot be determined solely at a more local level should be taken up by higher levels of government.

A local sales tax hardly fits into this category.

Which brings us back to Zellmer and Pawlenty. It is ironic that Zellmer's three local representatives — Sen. Kathy Sheran, Rep. Terry Morrow (North Mankato and St. Peter) and Rep. Kathy Brynaert (Mankato) — all good DFLers, supported North Mankato's sales tax initiative while the Republican Pawlenty, the leader of Zellmer's own party, stands poised to reject it. It's enough for a responsible mayor to ask: "Whose side is the governor on?"

While the governor and the Legislature have agreed on a number of strong issues this year — energy, the environment, the smoking ban, agriculture — in several key areas they have diverged, most notably tax policy, education and transportation. On these issues the governor has reverted to his past anti-tax stance designed to appeal to a certain portion of the citizenry — some might argue the majority — who, through lack of comprehension of the larger picture, look at taxes only as "bad," not as a necessary means to raise funds to pay for shared projects and services.

This is not the same Tim Pawlenty who portrayed himself in last year's campaign as a centrist with practical solutions for Minnesota's future. This is more like a man whose ego has been bruised because some of his pet projects and ideas were rebuffed, a governor who considers a veto pen more as a means of revenge than as a means to a shared goal.

If the governor goes through with the vetoes that he has seemed to indicate, would it be the action of a cold, cunning politician who is not bothered by dissing fellow Republicans like Mayor Zellmer? Or would it be indicative of his supreme confidence that he can portray himself and his party once more as centrists in '08, gambling that the majority of Minnesota voters, like all voters worldwide, have very short memories, and that they will forget the angst he seems inclined to reap in '07?

I'm a Democrat. This means that I should be incensed right now at the results of the recently-concluded legislative session, right?

Not so much.

Don't get me wrong, I think the DFL caucuses got thrashed in the public relations war. While DFL leaders were and remain on the right and just and upstanding side of the issues, they crafted no coherent narrative of why their stands are the right way forward for Minnesota. There are issues at the leadership and communications levels that will need to be addressed if the DFL hopes for more success in 2008, both at the Capitol and at the ballot box.

But let's pull back and put this session in perspective. Raise your hand if you've ever heard the saying "representative democracy is a bad form of government — it's just better than anything else out there..." or something like it. It holds true at times like these. Governmental deadlock is annoying, for sure, and has short-term detrimental effects. But in the longer run, that deadlock and the checks-and-balances system that causes it are gifts to us from the Founding Fathers. Co-equal branches of government, especially those controlled by opposing parties, mean consensus must be reached for anything to get done. Deadlock, committee process, parliamentary procedure, and even arcane traditions like the U.S. Senate's filibuster mean that no one group can shove an agenda into law through sheer force of will and arm-twisting. And those factors leave us where we are today, with a state government that hasn't done much to help where they might have, but hasn't done much to hurt either.

Consider also where the Legislature was a few years ago. Gone are the days of the State Senate stonewalling on things like Michele Bachmann's anti-civil-rights constitutional amendement and voter suppression. Instead, the pressure is on the Republican minorities and Governor Pawlenty to support or defeat DFL priorities.

Lost in the bloviation and crowing from such conservative luminaries as my AATC Brain Trust colleagues, House Minority Leader Marty Seifert and David Strom of the Taxpayers' League, is what marginal DFL-sponsored tax increases would have paid for — a sound fiscal policy that would have fixed disintegrating roads, provided relief from property tax increases by bringing high-earning Minnesotans' tax rates in line with the middle and working classes, and pushed more funding into classrooms across the state.

Many of these initiatives were defeated. But there's still another legislative session coming next year, and the DFL will still control both chambers of the Legislature. I would much rather control the debate, the issues, and the agenda heading into an election than be forced, as former Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson was, to stonewall against a reactionary right-wing fusion of public policy and electoral strategy.

The public demands a progressive, people-powered public policy regime. It's only a matter of time — and a little improvement here and there in the DFL's PR machine. A frustrating session? To be sure. But worth being angry about? As Martin Luther King said and Senator Barack Obama echoed recently, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." Right now, that arc just needs a little bit more organized pressure from DFL leaders and their supporters.

1. Rep. Cornish brought everyone cake on his birthday.
   
2. Rep. Finstad's kids stop by the floor once in a while (they're really cute kids.
3. With all of Rep. Siefert's random rants on the floor, I've been able to catch up on my constituent email.
4. Rep. Berns' kids visit, too, and they're just as cute as Finstad's.
5. Bipartisan support for the Education, Public Safety, Environment, and Agriculture bills.

A point of clarification, Rep. Siefert mentioned that 4 of the past 7 years have resulted in special sessions. Oddly enough, he forget to mention his party was in control at the time.

PERMITTED SMOKING

• Scientific study participants.
• Native American ceremonies.
• Private places, including: (1) private homes, private residences, or private automobiles when they are not in use as a place of employment, and (2) a hotel or motel sleeping room rented to one or more guests.
• Tobacco products shops.
• Heavy commercial vehicles.
• Farm vehicles and construction equipment.
• Family farms.
• Disabled veterans rest camp located in Washington County.
• Theatrical productions.

Having lived in Italy for a couple of years, I have acquired a real love for Renaissance art, good Italian food, and espresso — God's gift to the somnolent universe.

I was indulging this latter passion with my DFL friend, Bob, in our weekly coffee session, when I noticed he seemed a bit down.

"What's up? Have you secretly gone decaf on me?"

"No, not at all. I'm just depressed about the way the legislative session's been going," he said. "I thought we were going to see some real increases in spending. It's been way overdue in education and health care. Your boy, Timmy, has now vetoed all the important bills and the Democrats in the legislature are starting to look as limp as wet tissue paper."

"Well, what were you expecting, Bob?" I asked.

"Compromise," he replied.

"Compromise? Why is it, Bob, that Democrats in this state always seem surprised when Republicans do what they say they are going to do? Pawlenty's been saying from Day One that he would veto tax increases. You can't really be surprised, can you? And a ten percent overall increase in spending isn't exactly going backwards."

"But he hasn't given us anything, Fritz. Not even a niblit. That's just not right."

"Oh come on, Bob. He's set up the next election for you perfectly. I can see it now: heartless-Republicans-parking-us-on-our-petards-on-the-unfixed-freeways vs. we-wonderful-Democrats-of-the-warm-hearts-and-moving-traffic. It'll be a classic. Besides, the verdict's still out on whether you'll be able to override the Governor on the godforsaken metro sales tax for buses."

"But they're losing their nerve down there, Fritz. I just want to go down there, shake them until they bleed from their noses and tell them to stand up and fight for that tax increase on the rich!!"

"Maybe not, Bob. Be patient. When I was in Italy, I remember hearing a story about a young, newly minted captain sent to the front to command a unit of elite alpine troops in the First World War. Ordered to advance, he noticed his men cowering at the bottom of their trench. Furious, he screamed at them: 'Avanti. Forward, men. Charge!!!' Nothing happened. Again, he screamed: 'Avanti. Forward, men. Charge!!' Nothing happened. Finally, from near the back of the group of alpini, he heard: 'Avanti. Forward Captain. Charge!!' Now enraged, pistol in hand, he climbed to the top of the trench himself — and was instantly killed.

"The moral of that cynical, old-world story, Bob, is that sometimes you need to trust the judgment of the 'boots on the ground,' however good your intentions. Your folks are telling you they've made their point and need to move on. A stalled session will only hurt the Democrats, you know."

"It's just not right, Fritz, it's just not right."

"Well, Bob, far be it from me to play the optimist for you here, but maybe they'll be able to talk a few suburban House Republicans into an override. We'll see."