Almanac: At the Capitol

The specter of special session to deal with the Northwest Airlines merger has already been raised this morning at the Capitol. In a conference committee dealing with the budget deficit, Senate Finance Chair Dick Cohen said since details of the merger won't emerge for weeks or months Gov. Pawlenty may need to "call us back into special session." Cohen went on to say he's no fan of special sessions but he wants to "do what we can to limit the harm of a merger."

Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Dan McElroy responded that it's too early to know if a special session would be necessary, but the governor will "advocate for Minnesota workers" and if the deal doesn't benefit the state "he will oppose it." McElroy said a special session has not been discussed but the administration will "keep it in mind." The other thing to keep in mind is that all 134 house members are up for re-election so they really don't want to sit in a special session all summer when they could be on the campaign trail. And special sessions tend to open up a can of worms, bonding projects and other issues that don't get done during regular session could pop up too.

When I asked NWA's Doug Steenland about his obligations to the state, he said the new Delta could either repay the state $245 million dollars or do what he has been talking to state leaders about: renegotiate a new deal. NWA is breaking one of the three requirements of the deal, moving the headquarters. Steenland said they could strike a new compact on the hub status and employment. Can you say special session? How about all summer long? I can't imagine this would be an easy or quick deal to strike.

Democrats are rubbing their public schedules in the governor's face today, but they're doing it with a sense of humor. Last week reporters renewed our concerns about events missing from the governor's public events schedule that we are given. We got word of two speeches the governor apparently gave in two days that were not on that schedule. Some of these reports and concerns are coming from Gov. Pawlenty's fellow Republicans. I have had some GOPers worried about what's going on in the governor's office from his chief of staff threatening a lawmaker to his press secretary getting angry over blogs (other than mine!).

Gov. Pawlenty in his press conference today didn't get defensive even when saying Rep. Sertich may be "overdramatizing" the conversation about "cheap shots. " Pawlenty did verify that the conversation did take place. He also provided some humor on the topic of schedules when his Press Secretary Brian McClung said "you have something at 3:05." Pawlenty said "what is it?" McClung didn't appear to want to answer that in front of the press. The room was filled with laughter as the governor said "tell them to push it back." One reporter commented how smooth and amiable the guy remains when he could appear snippy, that's why it actually benefits him to have the press knowing about and covering his events. When he deals with us directly it's much more effective than a statement from the office. Sertich says he's "glad the governor admitted it" regarding the threats and responded to the governor's "cheap shots" analogy with reminder that Sertich played basketball but he "didn't wear pads."

House Majority Leader Tony Sertich released his public events schedule today, which included such scintillating details as "6:30 AM Leave Chisholm for St. Paul (available by phone)." What it does include is events that are closed to the press like caucus meetings; that's the same kind of detail we are seeking from the governor's office. Then, to really rub it in, the Senate sent a media advisory that they'll be meeting with the governor on Wednesday. It says, "Legislative leaders initiated the meeting and asked it be done in a public setting. However the governor has asked for the meeting to be private." Then a classic ironic parting shot, "The four leaders will be available to the media immediately following the meeting."

Now there's another schedule to throw into the heap. House Minority Leader Marty Seifert distributed the funniest schedule yet. It starts with 6:30 a.m. shower and dressing of his kids. It even gives the room numbers for private meetings of the GOP Executive Board and GOP Caucus (does that mean they're public?). And to top it off, a shot at the majority leader: "5:45 p.m. Comfort Rep. Sertich." Bedtime is 11:00 p.m. As Seifert and his media person said "we're all about transparency."

After being criticized by non-partisan reporters and his fellow Democrats for not giving the press access after his campaign re-launch a couple of weeks ago, Al Franken came to the press today, holding a press conference where we live in the Capitol press room. It was smart move for Franken. We like access and he was friendly and even funny. Lack of humor from a humorist has also been a weak point, the press has pointed out.

Norm Coleman's campaign says they always welcome the press and "even allow reporters to ride along" a clear knock at a recent story saying Franken's people limit press access. Coleman's press guy, the young yet able Tom Erickson, said he dropped what he was doing to run up to the press room to respond to Franken's event. It shows how quickly and hard this campaign will be fought.

Franken was officially kicking off his "On Your Side" tour to highlight middle class stress. Franken said "Coleman has not stood up for middle class Minnesotans." Coleman's campaign says the senator has been a "friend of the middle class ... supporting an increase in the minimum wage." Franken now hits the road for a series of "community conversations" around the state.

Even if others do not, we respect the spirit of confidentiality that is generally part of private conversations, so I won’t go into great detail regarding who said what.

Rep. Sertich and all Democrats had fair notice of the consequences if they chose to violate the state’s credit card limit by passing a fiscally irresponsible bonding bill. In fact, after they did so, they recommended that the Governor line-item projects, rather than veto the whole bill.

When speaking with Rep. Sertich, no one on our staff linked projects in the bonding bill to any comments made regarding the relative value of cheap shots.