Almanac: At the Capitol

Sen. Steve Murphy says the governor's staff told him he had to pick 2 out of 3 provisions in transportation bill, so Murphy says he has to drop booster seat language to preserve a primary seatbelt offense and graduated driver’s licenses for teens.
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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.
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Rep. Tony Sertich came to the press today to claim that several weeks ago a “staff member from the governor’s office” called him and said he was relaying a message from the governor that “cheap shots are cheap, but not free” and that the governor looked forward to seeing Sertich’s bills. Making a threat that Gov. Pawlenty was going to veto Sertich’s bonding projects.
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This unsigned anonymous note is what greeted me this morning in my Capitol office. Frankly, it's rather creepy to me to have people putting accusatory notes in my office when I'm not there. I have had people stalk me, who leave anonymous notes, follow me and have threatened to kill me. This is true for almost anyone who works in television, so we're a bit sensitive to such actions.
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It appears an override attempt in the House is going to go through today. The biggest news may be that the governor appears to have let Republicans off the hook. Last week we reported that Gov. Pawlenty visited the House Republican caucus. According to a leading House Republican, the governor told House Republicans if 5-10 of them had to override than they were supposed to just do it on the first attempt.
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I just heard from Gov. Pawlenty's Press Secretary Brian McClung and he says the governor's travel plans are on hold pending legislative action. As I reported earlier, Pawlenty was scheduled to be in Washington D.C. tomorrow as chair of the National Governor's Association to talk about energy issues with other NGA leaders.
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