Almanac: At the Capitol

Gov. Pawlenty's veto pen was active again as he vetoed several interesting items, but word arrived as the weekend began so they got little coverage. Deadlines have moved up for a lot of news organizations. At the same time MSM interest in State Capitol news dwindles. We tried to ask when a veto message might arrive to plan ahead, but got no response from the governor's office.

Anyway, for those who missed it, the governor vetoed a transportation bill containing a REAL ID opt-out for the state. For the record that's the second transportation bill the governor vetoed and a third and maybe even fourth one could be coming too. Pawlenty said the "federal government's response is not complete or finalized. Until it is, we should be careful not to unduly restrict our ability to at least begin preparations for implementing REAL I.D." As I indicated last week, there's bi-partisan support for this bill against the governor and led by libertarian or conservative Republicans. The question is if they'll negotiate a new deal or attempt an override led by conservative Republicans.

Pawlenty also vetoed a resolution urging congress to end trade and travel restrictions to Cuba. Again he deferred to the federal government saying "our federal government should address foreign policy matters, not state legislators." Many online have speculated this move is to curry favor with McCain.

Finally, the governor also vetoed a bill granting political subdivisions authority to give grants to nonprofits. Pawlenty says he believes in supporting charitable organizations, but local elected officials should focus on lowering property taxes and give the money to people to decide.

Gov. Pawlenty hosted some House Republicans and staffers at the governor's mansion last night. They were in the middle of another late night marathon session and got an invite from the big guy. Deputy Minority Leader Tom Emmer gave us the scoop. He said "it was mostly about meatballs and shrimp." Emmer didn't fess up to much policy coming up; he said the governor "conveyed hang in there." Emmer said the subject of Real ID did not come up. We've heard from several Republicans now that they don't want the governor to veto the state opting out of the federal identification mandate. They would rather Pawlenty sign the bill, even though he clearly stated this week it will be vetoed. The alternative is an override, this time it could be conservative Republicans joining with Democrats, unlike the transportation override where it was moderate Republicans making the supermajority. Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark said the anti-Real ID people are an interesting coalition bringing people together like Sen. Mee Moua and Sen. Ray Vandeveer.