Almanac: At the Capitol

The legislature finally passed and the governor signed into law this year a plan to deal with those piles of old TVs, computers, monitors, keyboards, printers, faxes and more. Tonight, we see how it's going. Remember that event at the Mall of America that organizers had to shutdown halfway through because of the unexpected demand? Most officials admit they underestimated the demand for electronic recycling. Local governments used to be responsible for figuring out pick up and lots of equipment with dangerous lead and mercury was being dumped. Now manufacturers must recycle 60% of what they make or they can't sell their products in the state. The recycling wave is going to become a tsunami in just over a year when the current analog TV signals turn over to digital signals and lots of people will toss their old sets in favor of new ones. We at tpt are hoping to be the local experts on the digital conversion. If you need to know where to recycle your electronics the PCA's website has the info. Tune into Almanac tonight for more.

This week more than 500 media types descended on the Twin Cities for a "Walk-Through" for the Republican National Convention. Now I must admit that while I've covered tons of national conventions, it has all been from afar, via satellite feeds. We've never had the budgets to travel, stay and pay to play at these events with pre-determined outcomes. This year since one convention is down the street we'll be there. We hear so much about how media companies are struggling, especially newspapers, yet tons of national media outlets spent the money to send their staff to a walk-through that is not required but helpful for covering a convention. So, I guess there's still some money to spend.

Also, it was interesting to me to see how Minnesota's Capitol Press Corps holds itself to a higher ethical standard than hundreds of the media people in attendance at the Xcel Centre. We won't take food from an entity we cover. It's a conflict of interest. Yet the cupcake bar and gourmet popcorn being handed out had lots of takers from media across the country that will be covering the people handing them the free food. That was kind of shocking to me. As much as people might distrust or be skeptical of the media, it should make you feel good that our Capitol reporters have clear ethical and professional standards. The old saying "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" holds true for the reporters I know. How can we scrutinize public officials if we don't hold ourselves to the same standards.

The other disappointment for the event was Gov. Pawlenty's quick, and frankly flat, speech. Pawlenty generally rises to the occasion. Here more than 500 members of the national media were a captive audience. The media brochure referred to the governor as a "rising star" in the Republican Party. But he just wasn't on his game. He stumbled, searched for words and lacked his usual humor and wit. Pawlenty can really hit one out of the park, but he didn't on this day. There was no buzz about him in the room of people who buy ink by the barrel. He's going to have to wow the crowd of journalists who have seen a lot of politicians come and go if he wants to retain that image of a rising star in national politics.