Almanac: At the Capitol

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.

1. Let Speaker Kelliher take the lead in negotiations with the Governor. Senator Pogemiller must support Kelliher as much as possible. Her DFL House caucus is at most political risk with an election in two years.


2. Work with Republicans as soon as possible to send a nickel gas tax increase to the Governor. Governor, go ahead and veto it. But let legislators do their will and override it. You win and they win. That's a good start for the rest of the negotiations.


3. Determine the bottom-line number that Democrats must have to cover their priorities of property tax relief and education. Everyone knows they've raised more revenue in their bills than they expect to get. Get to the bottom line.


4. Dip into the budget reserve and dust off the accounting gimmicks to get as close to the number as possible. It is a terrible way to run a railroad, or worse yet a state, but it gets you to adjournment, assuming the Governor won't budge. In the end everyone is better off.


5. Agree to work together over the interim to create a real vision for Minnesota's future. Work with the Citizens League ... seriously ... and try the old-fashioned approach of creating the vision of what we want the state to look like in five or ten years. We are at loggerheads now because we are arguing about budget pieces that don't fit into a visionary whole. Neither party built a comprehensive vision and got Minnesotans to buy into it. We are arguing over the size of the cars on the train at the station, but we've really never defined where the train is going.


6. Stay civil. Keep Sen. Pogemiller away from the Governor and the media. To his credit, Poge has done a great job of staying under the radar. One blow-up or burst of public anger from Pogemiller, will cause the Governor to dig in his heels even more. Then the Governor wins for sure. Remember Mike Hatch?


7. When it gets down to the really tense times and everything stalls, put a few first- and second-term legislators in the negotiating room for a reality check. They know what they need to bring home more than anyone ... and that includes an orderly end.


8. The Governor is fishing. Legislative leaders should do the same and celebrate Mother's Day. Get back to the real world. Honestly, you get so isolated and caught up in the drama at the Capitol during the end. It's not normal.

Eleven days and counting.

This is National Charter Schools Week. We can be proud. Minnesota was the first state in the nation to pass charter legislation 16 years ago. Does the Minnesota Senate really want to reverse course now and cap opportunities for children? That's exactly what they've proposed in their education funding bill.

I hope it was proposed only as a bargaining chip. Governor Tim Pawlenty, Education Commissioner Alice Seagren, and House DFL education leaders Mindy Greiling and Carlos Mariani all oppose capping public charter schools. There's no reason to cap innovation and potential for high-quality charter schools like KIPP coming to Minnesota that have strong success records with urban students of color.

Last week 2500 attendees of the National Charter Schools Conference in New Mexico cheered as Minnesota's Ted Kolderie was inducted into the National Charter School Hall of Fame as a founder of the movement. He and the 1988 Citizen's League report that proposed chartering stimulated legislation creating 4,000 charter schools serving over one million children in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Once started, it was parents and children voting for public charter schools with their feet that stimulated the growth.

I was inspired to hear conference keynoter former NBA basketball player Kevin Johnson, who started a group of charter schools serving low-income African American children to give back to his home town of Sacramento. The students are succeeding. Many will be first in their families to graduate from high school and attend college. And now Johnson wants to expand to … Harlem.

Johnson said he thought guarding Michael Jordan was hard. But it didn't compare to starting a charter school. His old high school was to be closed by the school board because it wasn't performing. So he went home and gave an inspiring speech to the hundred plus teachers of his school and vowed he would close the school and reopen it as a charter. There was thunderous applause and high fives all around. Then the teachers' union moved in … creating fear and myths about charters. Several weeks later Johnson returned to give a second rousing update to the teachers. The response? Dead silence. In the end only two teachers joined him in the new charter.

Several years later one of the union members was overheard asking…. "What if it works?" Say what? What if it works … for the kids? Isn't that what education is all about?

Chartering hasn't been perfect over the years. Neither have been district schools. But chartering creates much needed opportunities for children. As Ted Kolderie always reminds legislators: education is about the children … not the adults, not the institution.

Nor is chartering about political party. That's why U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings gave her strong support for chartering at the conference. That's why Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and Gov. Bill Richardson recently expressed their support for charters on the campaign trail. That's why Democratic New York Governor Eliot Spitzer recently led efforts in New York to lift their cap on charter schools.

To my former Minnesota Senate colleagues: This is no time to cap public school choice. Parents and students in Minnesota — and around the nation — are demanding it.

$2.5 billion increase in property taxes – actual or projected
1.2 billion in fees, co-pays, cigarette fees (or whatever you call those)
.8 billion in tuition increases
.5 billion "saved" by not funding the federal special education gap

Total: $5.0 billion tax or fee increases since 2003

What a coincidence! We can't escape reality: The state has to live up to its obligations in funding education, health care, transportation, and property tax relief. We either live up to our obligations or shift them. We've been shifting them for the past five years. Now let's restore our integrity and do what needs to be done.

While I generally applaud what Democrats are doing at the statehouse, I'm also deeply disappointed on two fronts. What happened to early childhood funding? It is a pittance of what is needed. And what happened to legislation extending the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse? It is the most important tool we have to prevent more victims of sexual abuse. Democrats … please, don't forget the kids in all of this. They need you!

I'm pretty impressed with what the Democrats are doing at the statehouse these days. But now the rubber hits the road. How will it all play out with the governor?

A couple things should not go unnoticed: DFLers are way ahead of past years in passing omnibus budget bills into conference committee … all, at least in the Senate, will pass before spring break. I can't remember the last time that happened.

And DFLers are taking a strong stand for what they believe and what they promised in their campaigns. Their constituents want more money for education, property tax relief and transportation, and the DFL is putting money on the table. They are proposing tax increases. That takes guts and I'm pleasantly surprised.

Now the spotlight turns to the governor. With every passing day he continues to say "no new taxes." He didn't sign a pledge, but he sounds like a broken record. Let's hope the governor is posturing. Does he really want to go back to the disaster of 2003 when he won 100%? Governor, the legislative process is not "all or nothing." To veto any and all tax increases is wanting it all.

Now is the time for the legislature to revisit the old days. We were forced to compromise ... with the governor, house and senate giving and taking their share. It all came to a head in 2000 with three-party government, when the process became transparent. Majority Leader Roger Moe (with the help of chief of staff Vic Moore who came up with the idea) announced the big compromise: a Third, a Third, a Third. He gave a name to what really happened for years in the legislative process.

It was simplistic, I'll grant you. The Independent Governor got his license tab fee reductions. The Republican House got their income tax rebates. And the DFL Senate got to invest their dollars in education and environment. It was a Third, a Third, a Third.

Gov. Pawlenty, you are now only one-third of the equation. You can't have it "all or nothing" a second time regarding new revenues. Take your third and use it to protect the taxpayers most important to you. Politically, you have everything to gain and you can claim victory by tempering the "excesses" of the DFL.

To their credit, Democrats have shown willingness to compromise. DFLers can take their two-thirds and focus it where investments really count. Not every interest group will be happy. But politically they also gain by moderating their tax proposals.

And in the end, Minnesotans win.

Our analysis shows you're hitting our new and improved Almanac: At the Capitol in greater numbers and you're favorite feature is The Brain Trust. There's a classic battle being waged by the Taxpayers League's David Strom and former senator Ember Reichgott Junge. First David wrote in "Bring Back the Alcohol!":

"It's hard to believe that anyone could suggest that liberals like taxing and spending, given that these various increases add up to only $2.5 billion according to the Star Tribune.

What's $2.5 billion between friends? Combined with the $2 billion + in surplus dollars, that would total less than a $5 billion increase in spending over a biennium! Peanuts."

I'll get to the alcohol part in a minute. The meat first. Ember now responds in "DFL: Be Bold. David Strom, Get a Life":

"Please, get real. Let the process work. Let's have the debate that was stifled over past years. The fact that legislators are introducing these bills means one thing: Minnesotans are demanding balanced fiscal stewardship for our state. And that doesn't always mean cutting taxes. It means investing in the dynamic quality of life we've grown to appreciate. Minnesotans are saying: "Enough! Enough of the damage to our core values you helped deliver with your 'No New Tax' pledge.' "

Before you think I'm fanning the partisan flames, let me report that David and Ember are wonderful sports and actually cc'ed each other on their postings. Okay, now to why a conservative like David Strom is urging lawmakers to drink:

"Personally I am beginning to think that one of the worse things to happen over the last few years is the TV Reporter's exposure of drinking at the capitol. At least when the legislators were well lubricated we had a chance to escape their attention. Now that they are wholly lucid, who knows what they will come up with?"

Now Ember doesn't respond to the need for legislators to be "well lubricated" but she does have advice for the often talked about but little understood freshmen:

"To my first-term friends now at the capitol … voting to restore revenues for core services like health care and education isn't an act of courage … it is an act of responsibility. I remember how we in the DFL majority voted for necessary tax increases during the Perpich years to create budget stability and invest in Minnesota's future. I don't recall even one DFL incumbent senator who lost during the entire decade of the 1980's."

David Strom, Get a Life

In your last missive, you listed tax increase bills introduced by legislators (conveniently forgetting those introduced by Republicans), added them up to something like $2.5 billion, and claimed the DFL is out of control.

Please, get real. Let the process work. Let's have the debate that was stifled over past years. The fact that legislators are introducing these bills means one thing: Minnesotans are demanding balanced fiscal stewardship for our state. And that doesn't always mean cutting taxes. It means investing in the dynamic quality of life we've grown to appreciate. Minnesotans are saying: "Enough! Enough of the damage to our core values you helped deliver with your 'No New Tax' pledge."

That said, I have different concerns about what's ahead. I fear DFL'ers won't be bold enough. It is time to restore the tax cuts we gave away in 1999, 2000, 2001 and beyond. We shouldn't have voted for them. I, for one, will own up to my own misguided votes for "Jesse rebates" and other tax cuts.

To my first-term friends now at the capitol … voting to restore revenues for core services like health care and education isn't an act of courage … it is an act of responsibility. I remember how we in the DFL majority voted for necessary tax increases during the Perpich years to create budget stability and invest in Minnesota's future. I don't recall even one DFL incumbent senator who lost during the entire decade of the 1980's.

I have another fear. Any revenues we do raise will be so divided up in the end, they won't make a difference. Take early childhood. Everybody wants to do something. The governor proposed $330 million to restore devastating cuts during his first term to child care and early childhood initiatives. The senate wants to put about $400 million into a "scholarship" program to enhance learning and child care for 3-4 year olds. The House wants to put about $300 million into all-day kindergarten.

Personally, I favor investment in our youngest children through the scholarship program. But all are worthy. So I ask legislators to take two bold steps:

• vote for necessary revenues to really impact our youngest children
• vote to invest monies in one focused area where real results can be measured.

Please, don't nickel and dime our children by dividing meager resources multiple
ways to appease everybody. In the end, nobody wins.