Oxymoron: DFL Leadership

By Christopher Truscott

Anyone who thinks elections matter and public opinion is relevant should take a long look at the Minnesota Legislature.

On the biggest issue of this session, a small tax hike on the super rich, DFL leadership folded. They had Tim Pawlenty on the ropes and then chickened out and let the governor off the hook.

So desperate were they to launch their “Blame Pawlenty” tour, DFLers failed to fight the battle that needed fighting. If you’re not going to stand by it, a strong plan for property tax relief and education funding really doesn’t mean anything.

This governor has made it abundantly clear that he’ll stand with the wealthiest at the expense of everyone else. DFLers should’ve bludgeoned him with it rather than caving after the first round of vetoes. It was a stunningly gutless display from a newly empowered majority.

The party’s big names will crow about ending the session on time, but they failed. They failed to lead, deliver and, even worse, they failed to launch a convincing fight.

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. He’s taking a summer vacation from politics.

Compromise, Don’t Fold

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Bill Prendergast:

Of Falwell, Dobson and Gay Penguins -- The title says it all!

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By Christopher Truscott

If the point of a legislative session is to merely end on time, let’s try something new. Rather than spending months proposing bills and debating Minnesota’s future, let’s just shut things down after the governor gives his State of the State address. Pass his agenda and go home. It’s that easy.

But if the point of a legislative session is to actually govern and produce results for Minnesotans, let’s try another tactic: Don’t fold.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is vetoing the future of the state. No to property tax relief. No to transportation funds. No to money for schools. While his handling of Minnesota’s affairs certainly gives DFLers plenty of political ammunition for 2008, governing means more than simply preparing for the next round of elections.

First: override the gas tax veto. Nobody wants to pay a nickel-a-gallon more at the pump, especially with gas prices where they are today, but we need the money to fund long-neglected transportation needs. We can’t run from the issue. It’s only going to get worse if lawmakers fail to act – and if Republicans who support transportation refuse to stand up to their party’s leader.

Do what’s right and get Minnesota moving again – literally and figuratively.

During the disastrous 2003 session the governor and the Republican-controlled House ran the table. The DFL-led Senate was outgunned and it caved, giving the GOP the votes needed to put Minnesota where it is today.

After two election cycles, the winds at the Capitol have changed. The DFL has the majority and it’s the governor’s turn to give something, which brings us to Step 2:

Rework the proposed income tax hike on families making more than $400,000 a year. The governor’s veto doesn’t mean give up, do a press conference and start dreaming up ideas for direct mail pieces. Nor does it mean suddenly decide to start enforcing tax laws, which should be done regardless of the budget situation.

It’s time to scale back the income tax proposal. The DFL can show it’s willing to compromise, not just play the same political games that don’t produce results and rightly foster widespread public apathy toward politicians.

Taxes were higher during the economic boom of the 1990s than they are today. The notion that taxing the richest among us will kill jobs is absurd and opinion polls show most Minnesotans understand that.

Since the governor is apparently so concerned about the burden being placed on Joe Mauer, the tax plan can be scaled back a bit. Then Pawlenty can either concede we need a new revenue stream to do what needs doing or admit he isn’t helping families making $50,000, $60,000 or $70,000 a year, but instead standing blindly with those making at least eight times more than a typical middle-class household.

The Legislature has stood strong for five months and can’t fold now, tomorrow, next week or next month. It’s time to compromise in order to deliver long-overdue results. Ceding the field entirely to the governor has failed Minnesota time and time again.

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. Since special sessions have become so common there really isn’t anything special about them. They need a new name.

Vetoing the Future

By Christopher Truscott

With just days to go before the legislative session is scheduled to end, the ball is in Tim Pawlenty’s court.

The DFL-majority in the Legislature has sent to the governor bills that would provide for property tax relief, education funding and investment in our state’s dilapidated transportation system.

The income tax increase on the wealthiest half-percent of Minnesotans to fund education and property tax relief is popular according to recent polls. The nickel-a-gallon gas tax hike is less desirable, but responsible governance means making tough choices.

Pawlenty, of course, rejected tax relief, education funding and money for highways. “No New Taxes” pledge or not, he’s still clinging to the reckless philosophy that got us into this mess. He was wrong in his first term and he’s still way off track.

Sloganeering is not a substitute for policy. Sound bytes are not a substitute for action. Governing by veto is not a substitute for leadership. Generating real results requires more than aiming to win each daily news cycle.

What is Pawlenty’s vision?

The DFL has been clear since the Legislature convened in January. The governor has been elusive.

The DFL is offering what we need. The governor is promising something for nothing.

The DFL is making tough choices. The governor is engaged, once again, in choosing the most politically expedient course without regard to the long-term consequences.

We deserve much better. When Pawlenty took office he touted Minnesota as an “awesome” state and he was right. But that didn’t happen by accident. Legislators and governors from both political parties made the tough decisions required to move Minnesota forward.

Pawlenty is taking a different course and is content to leave the problems of today to the leaders of tomorrow. This marks a sad new era in Minnesota politics – a depressing and dangerous departure from the proud legacy of past leaders.

Essentially the governor is vetoing the future for the sake of winning a political fight. Minnesota is too good for that and we deserve much more.

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. He wonders whether Marty Seifert is gearing up for a 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

Memo to DFL: No Capitulation

By Christopher Truscott

As the legislative session nears its decisive moments there’s bipartisan consensus that the big issues are education, property tax relief and transportation.

But beyond the harmony between DFLers and Republicans as to which issues are most important, there is a very critical difference.

DFLers have offered a comprehensive plan to fund the critical items, while Republicans are content to say these issues are important, but remain unwilling to do anything substantive to move our state forward.

Leadership means making tough decisions. For the time being DFLers are doing this with plans for a higher gas tax to pay for pressing transportation needs and a small income tax hike on the wealthiest Minnesotans to fund real property tax relief and pump desperately needed revenue into public schools after four years of sub-inflationary investment.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his allies in the Legislature have made it clear they’re determined to stand with the super-rich at the expense of everyone else. The failed policy of “no new taxes,” rejected overwhelmingly in last year’s elections, is apparently good enough for the surviving Republicans. They’re hoping against hope that the people don’t notice they’re offering no vision for Minnesota’s future.

With so much on the line, it’s imperative the new DFL majority not fold in the face of the governor’s veto threats. Selling out the future, the most important issues, for the sake of short-term political considerations is an act of unforgivable cowardice that transcends party labels.

The message is simple:

DFLers want to deliver for people in all corners of our state and Republicans are determined to defend the status quo and the richest 1 percent of Minnesotans.

DFLers are being honest with the public while Republicans are, once again, promising something for nothing.

DFLers want progress while Republicans say stagnation is just fine.

Pawlenty and his backers in the Legislature absolutely cannot be let off the hook. Politics as usual got us into this mess. Resolve and political courage will lead us to salvation. People are waiting for leadership. They’re sick of the self-congratulatory deal-making that produces sub-standard results year after year after year.

There is more at stake in the next few weeks than merely winning a political debate and positioning for the next election. What happens between today and the end of the session matters not just in the here and now. It will also have dramatic effects in the years to come.

It’s time to decide whether we will continue as a great state or accept something less than exceptional in the future.

Elections certainly have consequences, but even more important is the work of political leaders in the weeks, months and years after voters go to the polls.

It’s time to stare down the dwindling minority determined to stop change at every corner. Their moment has passed. The future belongs to those willing to embrace it and work to fulfill its promises.

This is a time for action, not capitulation.

It’s time for progress, not rhetoric.

It’s time to deliver results, not excuses.

It’s time for courage, not timidity.

It’s time to lead, not follow.

Anything less is unacceptable.

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. No jokes today. Sorry.

Progress Without Pawlenty

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McCain Sings 'Bomb Iran'...

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By Christopher Truscott

When Tim Pawlenty started his first term in 2003 with a solid Republican majority in the Legislature behind him, the message from the governor’s office was simple: My way or the highway.

Four years later, with the governor now in the first year of his second term, the political terrain has changed. DFLers now have firm control in both houses of the Legislature, but Pawlenty’s message remains basically the same.

Just as he did when he had a Republican-controlled House of Representatives to protect him, Pawlenty has maintained he’ll veto any responsible attempts by the Legislature to deliver much-needed property tax relief, increased education funding and transportation improvements.

Like a parrot, the governor has repeatedly signaled at every opportunity his intention to stand with the richest 1 percent of Minnesotans at the expense of everyone else. It’s a matter of “principle,” he told the Star Tribune.

There’s a touch of irony in the governor’s bluster this year. Four years ago an exacerbated Pawlenty lashed out at the DFL-controlled Senate for not doing enough.

“(The) bottom line is it’s easy for them to vote ‘no’ or criticize what we’re doing, but they’ve got an obligation to put together something that they can pass,” the governor said then.

The shoe is certainly on the other foot today, isn’t it? Even a casual observer can’t help but see the incredible hypocrisy in the situation.

While it’d be nice if Pawlenty was interested in governing for the entire state, rather than the minority who elected him in 2002 and 2006, that’s not going to happen. But at least we know where he stands – a small victory to be sure.

Fortunately, however, the governor’s office isn’t a necessary component in the fight for Minnesota’s future. The DFL is five votes short of the 90 required to override a veto in the House and just one vote short in the Senate.

In 2003, Marty Seifert, then a lesser-known member of the House, used a “Survivor” metaphor to help advance the Republican agenda.

“(The DFL was) voted off the island (in 2002),” he said. “The tribe has spoken.”

Fair enough. But by the same logic, the GOP was shown the door last year. In the name of consistency and intellectual honesty, shouldn’t the new House minority leader stand aside and allow the will of the voters to be carried out this year? After all, Senate DFLers did give Republicans the votes needed to pass a disastrous budget four years ago.

Just as we did in 2003, Minnesota faces serious challenges today. Fortunately we have quality solutions on the table.

A small income tax increase on the wealthiest Minnesotans – families making more than $400,000 a year and individuals taking in more than $220,000 annually – would generate hundreds of millions of dollars for property tax relief and increased education funding.

A 10-cent gas tax increase would bring in millions for improving our dilapidated transportation system. Nobody wants to pay more for gas, but anyone who has been stuck in Twin Cities-area traffic in recent years knows the bad policies of past legislative sessions haven’t produced the results we need.

Pawlenty opposes progress. He’s proud of it. It’s sad, but it’s not going to change. It’s now up to the Legislature to deliver for Minnesotans. One party can’t do it all, either. DFLers need six Republicans willing to break with their party and move Minnesota forward.

The political posturing of the last four years has produced record-high property taxes, millions and millions of dollars in school budget cuts statewide and increasingly snarled traffic in the Twin Cities and population centers throughout Minnesota.

During the 2003 debate Pawlenty’s finance commissioner said crisis is an “opportunity to innovate.” We gave their way a chance and it has failed.

Isn’t it time we try something new?

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. He thinks Seifert’s quips have improved since becoming minority leader.

Pawlenty: Saying One Thing, Doing Another

By Christopher Truscott

Tim Pawlenty likes to tout himself as a pro-business, pro-growth governor who’s making our economy stronger.

That sounds really great. But unfortunately for the governor and for Minnesotans, saying you’re for growth and actually creating a robust 21st-century economy are two entirely different things.

Rather than moving Minnesota forward, the governor is taking us in the wrong direction. His policies are anti-growth to the extreme. Our state is stuck in reverse gear and Pawlenty’s foot is planted firmly on the accelerator.

We shouldn’t be surprised, but after a horrendous first term Pawlenty did promise progress during his re-election bid last year.

“Our continued growth requires bold leadership, common-sense solutions and real reform,” he wrote in a letter posted on his campaign Web site. “That’s my goal everyday as governor, to keep Minnesota strong, prosperous, vibrant and to make sure our schools are improving and our economy is growing.”

Perhaps the view is a little different from Pawlenty’s office in the Capitol. But where the governor sees growth, people in the real world see stagnation.

Where the governor sees growth, people see higher property taxes.

Where the governor sees growth, people see runaway tuition hikes at the state’s colleges and universities.

Where the governor sees growth, people see cuts, cuts and more cuts in our public schools.

Where the governor sees growth, people see a dilapidated transportation system designed for another era.

Where the governor sees growth, others see reality.

Our job-growth is below the national average. Our economic growth, as measured by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, is abysmal. Not only are we not leading, we aren’t even following. Maybe Pawlenty likes seeing our state ranked alongside places like West Virginia and Mississippi, but that’s not good enough for Minnesotans.

It’s time to take off the blinders, governor. Minnesota needs leadership but you’re offering nothing more than feel-good platitudes and blustery right-wing rhetoric. Maybe a slogan like “At least we’re not North Dakota” is good enough for you, but it isn’t for the rest of us.

DFL lawmakers in the House and Senate have put forward property tax relief proposals that will also generate much-needed investment for education and transportation, two areas critical to getting Minnesota back on the right track. But rather than embracing real pro-growth policies, Pawlenty has opted to stand with the richest Minnesotans at the expense of the other 99 percent of us. That’s not good enough.

Growing the economy takes more than dumb luck. It requires strong policies that put people and businesses in a position to succeed. That means real funding for an education system needed to train high-skill workers and attract the jobs of the future and building the transportation infrastructure necessary to move people and goods quickly.

We aren’t going to attract businesses – growth – to Minnesota because of our weather. We’re looking at a chance of some snow in the Twin Cities on Tuesday while forecasts in Raleigh, N.C., call for sunshine with high temperatures in the 60s. It’d be nice to compete with that, but we can’t.

Minnesota’s future is in providing services that are second to none. That’s something we can control. We’re lucky in that regard – we know exactly what we have to do. All we need now is a governor with the courage to sign his name to good legislation.

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. If Pawlenty becomes vice president, what will Carol Molnau do as governor?

Somewhere in Minnesota

By Christopher Truscott

Somewhere in Minnesota there’s a guy who just finished a long day at work.

Driving home, he’s worried about pulling together his son’s college tuition for next year.

He pays more in property taxes than he ever has before, yet his local school board is considering cuts to the music program in which his daughter has excelled since starting high school two years ago.

The school system isn’t what it used to be, and the only thing saving it from a worse fate is the property tax levy that just passed three years ago and is set to expire in two years. Student-teacher ratios are up, classroom aide positions have been cut, and programs to help those who need it the most have been gutted.

He worries about what will happen when his third child, now in elementary school, reaches high school.

Health care premiums are eating up a bigger chunk of his paycheck and he’s struggling to make ends meet. On top of that, there are rumors that his job may be moved overseas. He wonders what will happen to health care for his family if that dreadful gossip becomes reality.

He makes $30,000 a year and his wife brings in another $20,000. They’re the typical Minnesota family.

As he gets closer to home, Gov. Tim Pawlenty comes on the radio and tells him he’s taxed too much. No kidding, our protagonist comments to himself as he continues driving.

“We just dug ourselves out of a big budget hole,” the governor continues. “Let’s not spend ourselves back into one.”

Our guy isn’t really interested in politics. He’s just trying to get by. But he still deserves the truth.

What Pawlenty isn’t telling Minnesotans, like the one described here, is the other side of the story.

The governor won’t tell our guy that under his watch college tuition has gone through the roof. He won’t tell him that the health care safety net has been decimated. He won’t tell him that funding for public schools isn’t keeping up with inflation and that “no new taxes” in St. Paul means plenty of new taxes on Main Street.

Also ignored in the slick radio ad the governor just rolled out is that nobody wants to raise taxes on the typical Minnesotan.

House and Senate DFLers have competing plans to raise taxes on the very wealthiest of our state’s residents.

Under the House proposal, the state income tax on families making more than $400,000 and individuals earning more than $200,000 would go from 7.85 percent to 9 percent. A higher tax on 28,000 Minnesotans – out of 5.1 million residents statewide – would generate $433 million to help reduce property taxes and boost education funding.

The Senate plan is broader and would raise the income tax rate on the 93,000 wealthiest Minnesotans to 9.7 percent, with the $1 billion in new revenue also going toward education and property tax relief.

The House and Senate plans aren’t extravagant. They’re staring off points focused on a couple of the issues most important to Minnesotans. We still haven’t addressed the health care crisis and college tuition is largely a back-burner issue. These proposals cover important basics and do little more.

In his first state of the state address more than four years ago, Pawlenty used the word sacrifice (or a variation of it) 15 times. But as a result of this governor’s policies the sacrificing has been left to those who have already done more than they can afford.

Nobody likes the idea of raising taxes on anyone, but ultimately we need new revenue to undo the damage done in recent years. DFLers at the State Capitol want Joe Mauer to pay more, while the governor wants the burden to fall on folks like the man described earlier. To people of good conscience, this should be a no-brainer.

It’s time we put progress ahead of politics.

It’s time we as a state start standing up for and honoring those who have already done their fair share.

It’s time the governor live up to his talk of the Minnesota “spirit of giving and sacrifice.”

It’s time we do the right thing because someone, somewhere is counting on us.

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. He’s taking bets. What will happen first: Pawlenty raising taxes or the Twins winning an American League championship?

Minnesotans Ready for Progress, Waiting on Pawlenty

By Christopher Truscott

After quoting the biblical prophet Isaiah toward the end of his first State of the State address, Gov. Tim Pawlenty closed his speech with a call to action.

“In that spirit and hope, and in the great heritage of service and sacrifice that is Minnesota, let us walk together,” he said. “Then let us run. And one day soon, even soar.”

Four years later many Minnesotans are ready to answer the governor’s challenge. They’re ready for our state to once again take flight. All they’re waiting for is the governor himself to come aboard.

Pawlenty’s first term was marked by massive property tax hikes, soaring college tuition, devastating cuts to school districts statewide and reckless neglect of basic services and infrastructure. The “great heritage of service and sacrifice” that the governor talked up after taking office was sacrificed itself on the altar of his “no new taxes” pledge.

The Minnesota the rest of the country looked to as a model for innovation and leadership is quickly becoming a thing of the past. After decades of leading the nation, the governor’s policies are pushing us closer and closer to the ranks of the average and mediocre states.

Pawlenty will tell you his leadership has kept Minnesota strong, but under his watch we’ve actually grown weaker.

Our state domestic product growth rate of 1.9 percent between 2004 and 2005, the last year for which statistics are available, lags well below the national average of 3.6 percent. Rather than competing with the fastest-growing economies, we’re lagging near the bottom of the pack, alongside states like West Virginia, New Jersey, Arkansas and Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Mississippi. That’s hardly what the Republican and DFL architects of the Minnesota Miracle envisioned for us.

The governor is first to admit that our remote location and long winters put us at a competitive disadvantage with the booming economies of the Sun Belt. But we could once compete on the basis of a quality of life that was second to none. Today, however, we’re losing that advantage, too.

Last November Minnesota voters said enough is enough. They turned out many of the governor’s allies and handed firm control of both houses of the Legislature to the DFL, which has put together budget packages in the House and Senate that can help undo some of the damage caused during the first term of this governor’s so-called administration.

Is the DFL plan perfect? Probably not. Does it fix everything? Absolutely not. Is it a good starting-off point? Certainly.

A small tax hike on Minnesota families making more than $400,000 a year and individuals taking in more than $220,000 would generate $433 million over two years that would help provide health insurance for 70,000 uninsured children and get state K-12 education spending slightly above inflationary levels.

Before anyone buys into the inevitable “they’re raising your taxes” argument, consider that only about 28,000 people out of 5.1 million Minnesota residents would be affected by this measure. The median household income in Minnesota is $50,750. Whereas Pawlenty balanced budgets on the backs of the middle class and working poor, the DFL is merely asking the wealthiest Minnesotans to carry a little more of the burden.

If the governor can quote Isaiah, certainly he can understand the value of an axiom handed down in the book of Luke: “Unto whom much is given, of him shall much be required.”

The first gas tax adjustment since “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World” topped the Nielsen ratings would generate much-needed revenue to begin a long-awaited modernization of our transportation system. With U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar chairing the House Transportation Committee, Minnesota is in line to receive some federal assistance, but if we can’t come up with the requisite matching funds Oberstar might as well be from Idaho.

With new revenue streams for education and transportation, the state’s $1 billion budget surplus can be used for property tax relief and buying back some of the school tax levies passed in recent years to help offset sub-inflationary state investment in K-12 education.

The governor has derided the proposals put forward by a coalition of conservative, moderate and liberal DFLers as “Taxapalooza.” His wisecracks mask the fact that he doesn’t have a plan. He doesn’t know how we’ll get back to where we were, let alone how we’ll get where we need to go. After mortgaging our future for his “no new taxes” plan during his first term, he’s blocking progress today to solidify his credentials with national Republican leaders in advance of a possible vice presidential candidacy next year.

The simple fact is it will take new investment to help rebuild Minnesota. When the governor and his allies say tax increases will kill the economy ask them to identify the benefits of their “no new taxes” policies. Ask them to point to the great new jobs they created. Ask them if low taxes equal growth, why isn’t Tennessee an economic juggernaut?

That Pawlenty and his allies don’t have all the answers is OK, nobody does. We didn’t get into this mess over the course of one year and unfortunately we’re not going to get out of it that quickly, either.

But the fact that the governor and his supporters aren’t putting out thoughtful proposals is simply inexcusable. It’s time for serious leadership and they have again decided to punt.

Don’t we deserve better than that?

Isn’t it time Pawlenty answered the call to “citizenship and service” he issued four years ago?

Christopher Truscott can be reached at chris.truscott@gmail.com. He thinks Pawlenty should try pulling the goalie.