Almanac: At the Capitol

A partnership between Minnesota and Wisconsin could save the states money by sharing services, and students drop off letters in support of the Bell Museum for the governor and lawmakers.

View the Capitol Update for March 31, 2009.

The new partnership between Minnesota and Wisconsin should bring a $10 million dollars savings to each state.  Gov. Pawlenty said in "an economic crisis we have to do all we can get value from government."  Gov. Doyle added "maybe we don't do everything perfectly and we can learn a little from Minnesota." 

There are 80 projects being proposed, some of the consolidation could require legislative action, but the governors should be able to move unilaterally on most of the shared services.  Nothing has begun yet, but should be underway within a couple of months.  It's mostly boring government functions like IT, licensing, permitting, but the governors are interested in looking at shared fishing and hunting licenses which should get some attention. 

The two govs from two different parties still seem to enjoy their friendship and now a new partnership that they first announced in January and seem to be following through on.

The governors of Minnesota and Wisconsin announce an initiative to share services, a Senate committee passes a new seat belt law, and hearings are held on providing health insurance for the unemployed.

View the Capitol Update for January 13, 2009.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle just held a press conference to "pledge to make the Midwest a renewable energy leader." Not a lot of new news here, Pawlenty is chair of the National Governors Association and Doyle is chair of the Midwestern Governors Association. They said it makes sense for the two states to work together because our people, geography, agriculture are so similar. I was wondering if Minnesota is still positioned well on biofuels with so much talk about moving away from corn-based ethanol and more talk about things like switchgrass. Pawlenty said, "we have a lot of stuff to make fuel out of, but we also have an innovative spirit." Where the two states do differ is a statewide smoking ban. Doyle wants one and hasn't gotten it from his legislature. Pawlenty got one from his legislature last year. Gov. Doyle said he's "glad the Packers took care of the Vikings, but on the smoking ban you guys won."

Reporters also wanted to talk presidential politics, which Pawlenty won't do from the podium in the governor's office. So he motioned to reporters to walk into the hallway so he could serve as McCain's co-chair outside his office. There he expressed delight that McCain won New Hampshire "for a person who was written off for dead." Pawlenty said he'll continue to serve as a surrogate speaker for McCain and may go to Michigan later this week. When asked if McCain will be adding offices here like Obama did today or any paid staffers for Minnesota he paused a while and said, "Ahhhh, no." Finally, Pawlenty continued to deny that he'd be McCain's running mate, saying he's focused on being governor of Minnesota and they've never discussed it and this new quote that he's supporting McCain for president "not because I need or want something out of it."