Almanac: At the Capitol

Legislative leaders met with Gov. Pawlenty today to set the stage for end of session negotiations. The mood was positive and playful, Sen. Pogemiller did a silly "perp walk" on the way into the meeting. Democrats and Republicans all said it was a nice, professional, positive meeting. But that's where the agreement ends.

Sen. Pogemiller's first comments afterwards were that there was "general understanding no new revenue is on the table ... and there was general understanding the health care access fund will not be used to balance the budget." The governor's budget proposes using the health care access fund to balance the budget. Reporters asked several follow up questions to make sure we heard it correctly that Pawlenty had given up on using one of his sources of revenue to balance a nearly billion dollar shortfall.

Republican leaders Senjem and Seifert had a totally different story. They said there was no such agreement or "general understanding" and that the governor hasn't waivered from his position on using the health care access fund. Democrats want to fund more health care access with the fund and Republicans argue they're using it to prevent cuts to nursing homes, which is health care.

What this really all means is that this relationship between the governor and legislative leaders seems as confused as ever. They might appear to be functioning better, but it's still dysfunctional.

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."

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.

Because reporters are once again frustrated with Gov. Pawlenty's schedule, the press started asking legislative leaders if they ran for governor if they would vow to release all of their events on a media schedule. The House leaders (Democrats and Republicans) said they'd be happy to release their current schedules.

That line of questioning led reporters to follow up on just who is interested in running for governor. The funniest reaction came from House Minority Leader Marty Seifert who said Pawlenty was his guy, when we pressed what if Pawlenty isn't running again, Seifert actually blushed and said he wasn't sure.

Sen. Tarryl Clark said she has "had people talk" to her about running for governor and it would be "hard not to" hear that. She expressed interest in there being a new governor in general.

Majority Leader Sertich and Speaker Anderson Kelliher wouldn't bite much on our questioning. Kelliher has been mentioned the most often from political activists I talk to. At Al Franken's rally a couple of weeks ago the supporters went nuts for her, by far the most applause for any other DFLer who spoke.

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. So if anyone knows who is responsible, please let me know because it's at the very least highly unprofessional and downright creepy.

Now, to the specific questions: The creepy questioner asks "Do you have any evidence related to this charge?" First of all, in my blog post I wasn't making a charge. I was asking a question. "Veto Gender Gap?" was the headline. Note the question mark. I was reflecting an issue raised by four other people, not me. As was noted in the post, Sen. Anderson, Sen. Pappas, Rep. Sertich and at least one reporter raised the issue.

For further evidence, my colleagues have spelled it out pretty clearly in their stories. St. Paul took the brunt of the vetoes. The largest projects that were vetoed came from St. Paul: Central Corridor, Bell Museum, Como Zoo, and more. The female chair Rep. Alice Hausman is from St. Paul. One reporter saw her appear to be crying after the vetoes. Her St. Paul senators said she ran out of the governor’s office because she was so upset.

*Update, the governor's press secretary wrote the note and just supplied this response:

Mary –

I tried calling you yesterday evening and this morning, but have missed you. Please feel free to post this entire email on your blog if you’d like (in fact, I’d prefer if you did so my side of the story can be fully shared with your readers)

I left you that note around 6:00 p.m. yesterday. I came downstairs to talk with you, but when you weren’t there, I just wrote a note and left it. Unfortunately, I forgot to write my name on it, but after I slid it under the door I figured I’d just call you first thing Tuesday to discuss it. I didn’t intend it as an “anonymous” note, as I always planned to follow up with a call.

What bothered me is that, once again, you posted an untrue and unfair accusation from Democrats without contacting our office for a response. You did this on March 14 when you posted their claim that the Governor had not met with DFL leaders, which was not true. And now you post their claim that gender was a factor in the Governor line-item vetoes without contacting our office for a response. This claim is also untrue.

Several other reporters heard DFL legislators claim gender bias regarding the Governor’s vetoes. But none of those reporters actually reported on it, because the claim is ludicrous on its face. This is a Governor who has worked very closely with women over the course of both his private sector and public sector careers. His Lt. Governor is a woman. More than 75 percent of the policy staff in the Governor’s Office are women. His general counsel is a woman. It’s pretty serious to claim that the Governor took official actions with gender in mind as a factor. I believe, at a minimum, you should have given us an opportunity to respond before posting such a claim.

You also said in your post that “the question some reporters started asking is if gender looks like a factor.” No reporter asked that question in the press conference with Governor Pawlenty, so I guess you mean that reporters asked that question after some DFL legislators raised the issue in the hallway after the press conference.

Again, I apologize for not signing my name to the note I left you. And I agree that my handwriting is pretty creepy. I really need to work on my penmanship. Not signing the note was an unfortunate oversight on my part, but I just jotted it down standing in the hallway of the press corps yesterday evening. My concerns about your blog posting still stand, however. I look forward to continuing to work with you around the Capitol.

Sincerely,

Brian McClung
Director of Communications
Office of Governor Tim Pawlenty

Gov. Pawlenty hit projects hard that are close to House Chair Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul). Majority Leader Tony Sertich called it "personal" what Pawlenty did to chair Hausman. Sen. Sandy Pappas (DFL-St. Paul) was very emotional right after the gov's press conference, saying the vetoes are "insults to chair Hausman." The question some reporters started asking is if gender looks like a factor with Hausman being a female chair. Hausman was at the governor's press conference but Pappas said she ran out because she was so upset. We haven't been able to verify that because Hausman has been tied up in meetings. But two female senators from St. Paul (Anderson & Pappas) saw gender as a factor.

Senate Bonding Chair Keith Langseth wasn't very upset afterwards and showed little emotion to the governor eliminating about $200 million dollars of the bonding bill he crafted with Hausman. The biggest shock in the Capitol hallways is Pawlenty's slashing of Central Corridor money. Few saw that coming. The governor didn't get a big project he wanted: Vermilion State Park. So lawmakers got something gutted they wanted too. Pawlenty noted that they already passed a huge transportation bill above his objections. The governor is keeping lawmakers on their toes; they really didn't expect a line-item vetoed bill since Pawlenty has been quick to take down whole bills. This reminds lawmakers of some of the unique and huge powers a governor has in a year where they overrode the big guy for the first time.