Governor Pawlenty’s discipline is tutelage for Republicans everywhere.

Congressional Republicans — the ones who got tossed because of their embrace of spending and earmarks — might start looking for a message up north. Fiscal responsibility? “It is the fundamental tenet of our party, and the conservative coalition more broadly,” says Mr. Pawlenty, nicely. “If we don’t have that, we are nothing.”

If Republicans are looking to get back their conservative groove, they could do worse than study Minnesota’s budget brawl. Mr. Pawlenty deftly (and amusingly) outmaneuvered his Democratic opposition, not only saving his state from huge tax increases but clearing the way to cut government spending. Call it a refreshing break from the financial-crisis norm.

While liberal TV ads equate fairness with sticking it to the “rich”…

…Mr. Pawlenty kept voicing three simple principles. “Number one, we must have [because of the constitution] and should have a balanced budget,” he told me. “Number two, the state government needs to live within its means, just like everybody else. Number three, we shouldn’t raise taxes in the worst recession in 60 years.” Minnesota already has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation.

While in Washington, Comrade Obama increases the Federal Government and National Debt at unprecedented speed…

this will be one of the first times in modern Minnesota history that the state will reduce the size of government in real terms, not just slow its rate of growth. “The correlation in recent history has been between job growth and states that have reasonable government cost structures,” he says. These cuts, he says, will position Minnesota to take advantage of the recovery when it comes.

A Crisis Not Wasted^™ indeed, Governor.

Now that theLegislature has adjourned without the DFL majority’s budget passed, and with Governor Pawlenty promising to use the line-item veto to unallot the budget back into balance, look for the following:

• Predictions from DFLers of bodies lying in the street (oops – already happened)
• Threats from liberal-run school districts that they’ll have to close, followed by exactly zero schools closed, at least due to state budget cuts.
• More predictions from DFLers of bodies lying in the street.
• Lamentations that “the governor abused his plurality”, which are not only shrieking points, but dumb ones; the governor is an elected executive, not a pluralistic deliberative body.  That’s why the Legislature is given the opportunity to override his vetos.
• Threats from cities to lay off cops and firemen (leaving city garbage collectors, administrators, civil rights commissioners, convention planners, community planning organizers, planning/policy wonks and layer upon layer of other bureaucrats unmentioned and untouched, because people don’t get scared into writing their legislatores to demand tax hikes to protect any of those jobs).

And if all of the above haven’t happened by the end of the day today, I’ll rhetorically eat my hat.  Or would, if I owned any.

Twila Brase writes from the Capitol:

It’s 1:15 a.m. and I want to report the good news. We won! The gavel came down at midnight, the Minnesota legislature adjourned in the nick of time, and the Baby DNA warehousing bill to repeal genetic privacy and DNA ownership rights at birth, never came up for a vote!

This is your success!

Your citizen petitions, the many people who attended the legislative hearings, your emails and phone calls to legislators, the Sue Jeffers show on KTLK, CCHC’s new Protect Baby DNA cards, the Glenn Beck Program, Reps. Tom Emmer and Mary Liz Holberg, Sen. David Hann’s great questions during the Senate hearing, the “Do NOT Repeal Genetic Privacy” stickers we all wore, my opportunity to speak at the Tea Party, our meeting with  Governor Pawlenty, the CCHC report on newborn screening and eugenics, the filing of the lawsuit against the Department, local TV news coverage (esp. WCCO-TV), the prayers of many people, and the unexpected informational hearing on genetic privacy led to this success.

Twila represents the Citizen’s Committee on Healthcare, and she’s been lobbying against the Baby DNA bill – which would allow the state to collect a DNA database from the state’s newborns without any form of parental consent – for years.

Of course, the battle isn’t over.  Check in with the CCHC to get and stay up on this teeth-grinding bit of government arrogance.

Governor Pawlenty – virtually the sole Republican with any semblance of power anywhere near Capitol Hill – drops the “L” word, promising line-item vetoes rather than a shutdown or a special session:

Turning the heat up to a boil in the closing days of the legislative session, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Thursday that he would use his powers of line-item veto and unallotment to singlehandedly balance a state budget facing a $4.6 billion deficit if a compromise plan can’t be crafted in the next four days.The unusual flexing of executive power seemed clearly designed to make Pawlenty’s adversaries in the DFL-controlled House and Senate blink as the clock ticks toward adjournment.

I’ve criticized the Governor in the past, but I’ll say it now; great job, Governor.

Now, expect the following in the next few days:

• A “Minnesota Poll” showing that Minnesotans oppose this use of the line-item veto (in a poll that’ll oversample DFL voters by 2-1)
• A Lori Sturdevant column bemoaning how Elmer Anderson would be rolling in his grave over this; how he’d have taken the DFL out for beer and lutefisk and cigars and gotten them all together by giving them pretty much what they wanted, but scolding them with a colorful homespun story that left everyone chuckling in that beer/lutefisk/cigar clogged way that old-time pols in smoky back rooms at Jax or Murray’s or the Saint Paul Grill always laughed, and everyone would have walked together into the glorious future.
• Gauzy, soft-focus stories on “the Minnesotans affected by the budget cuts”, which may very well focus on Minnesotans that are affected by budget cuts, but which will certainly ignore reams and oodles of waste, pork and subsidy of things government should not be subdizing.

Blogger reactions?

With dreary predictability (I almost called it word for word), Grace Kelly at Minnesota Preliterate Conspiracy Wackoes With Dubious Senses Of Ethics “writes“:

“Pawlenty’s idea of compromising is “Do it my way!”, each “offer” has been the same offer as before. Pawlenty gave a press conference where he said he will sign bills and not have a special session. Pawlenty announced his intention to use line item vetoes and unallotments to create his own budget without the house or senate involvement. Sounds like we no longer have a three part government, we now have a “dictator” or “king”.”

No, Grace, you deeply dotty little person; we have the governor acting in accordance with a law that was passed by our elected representatives. Elections have consequences.  He’s doing his job.

Zack at MNPublius:

That’s all fine and dandy, except that in the time that Kelliher has been Speaker there hasn’t been a special session (a streak that is only in danger of ending due to Pawlenty’s Presidential ambitions and inability to engage in any kind of compromise).

Notice how often “compromise” is popping up with the leftybloggers?  Pay attention to how often you see it in MSM columns in the near future.  “Compromise” will be the paramount public virtue in this country before long.

This – when they’re defaming you on the one hand, and demanding “compromise” (i.e., silent acquiescence) on the other, is when you know they’re getting frustrated.

Thanks again, Governor.

Governor Pawlenty, from his new Twitter account:

hockey, teacher said she is being laid-off. Union in her district turned down more money to avoid performance-based pay. Go figure!!!

Paying good teachers extra? All hell would break loose!

Eric “Big E” Pusey over at The Minnesota Short Bus Collection Of “Progressive” Whackdoodles So Big It Must Be A Stimulus-Funded Project hops up and down and notes the blazingly obvious; Tim Pawlenty has turned on his previous – as in, over 12-year-old – support of term limits:

Dusty Trice brought it up and I couldn’t help taking a look for myself.  And wouldn’t you be surprised what I found.  Gov. Tim Pawlenty was for term limits before he was against them.

But he wasn’t just for term limits, he actually went so far as to introduce a bill.  This means he really meant it.  Back when he was a turd-flinging back-bencher.

This was a year before he became a serious politician.  A year before he was elected Minority Leader in the House.  A year before he understood how much he liked power.

One wonders where Pusey got this narrative; Pawlenty has always “liked power” (i.e. been highly motivated in his political career, often seen as a good thing when it’s not Republicans).

No person may file to be a candidate for election to a term in the house of representatives or senate that, if served, would cause the person to serve more than ten consecutive years in the legislature.
(From HF30 as introduced Jan. 10, 1997)

That’s all well and good, Timmeh, but your bill also included term limits for Governor as well.  Where do you stand on term limits now?

[What’s that buzzing sound?  Do you hear a buzzing sound?]

Oh, relax.  When a Tic – like, say, Paul Wellstone – does it, it’s called “growing in office”.

Actually, in this case the Wellstone and Pawlenty stories are closer than you might think (especially if you’re completely ignorant of both); Wellstone, if we take him at his word, opted to break his two-term promise because he worried the seat could go to a Republican if he left; the GOP controlled the Senate by a decent margin at the time, and he felt, not-completely-unjustifiably, like he needed to keep the seat in his own caucus.

Governor Pawlenty – who, unlike Wellstone, is an effective politician – can genuinely say the same thing; ceding the state’s last executive office to DFL hegemony, in the absence of an effective state GOP capable of contesting control of the State House, would be a disaster of biblical proportions for Minnesota.

So, y’see, Libs? We Republicans have actual, not-always-base motivations for the things we do, too!
But…but…that buzzing sound?

We all know you like the sound of Three Term Timmeh

Timmeh?  The handicapped kid from South Park?

We have to share a state with these toddlers?

I don’t believe in public subsidies of broadcasters – but I listen to MPR.  I mean, my tax dollars go to them, whether I support the concept of socialized radio or not, so it doesn’t give me any moral qualms.

I didn’t support public money for the Midtown Greenway – but my taxes pay for it, so I ride it with pride.  Dang skippy.

And Jason Lewis is wrong, wrong, wrong; I bike to work on roads for which I pay no gas taxes for my bike, and I do it without a single sleepless night .  I pay plenty of gas taxes when I’m not biking, and my bike does no damage whatsoever to the road that – I haste to add – I already paid for.

I’m not going to join with my conservative friends who are bagging on Governor Pawlenty for not rejecting Minnesota’s share of Porkulus, because, well, we’re ponying up our share.  While Pawlenty has not been the perfect fiscal conservative,  he’s done the best anyone could do under the circumstances under which he’s operating, at least trying to veto the DFL’s worst excesses.

The money’s leaving Minnesota.  Better that it had not left in the first place, of course; better still that we slash the size of Minnesota’s government.  But this is the hand we’re dealt.

Imperfect?  Sure.  But he makes some sense – and makes Rachel Maddow look like the gabbling, overpromoted ninny fighting four intellectual classes above her mental weight she is in the process, to sweeten the deal:

Pawlenty recently appeared on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show, and fairly effectively rebutted the host’s charge that those who criticized the stimulus bill were hypocrites for accepting the funds now that it had passed.“I have a number of responses to that argument,” Pawlenty said. “Minnesota ranks forty-sixth in terms of getting federal spending in relation to the amount of taxes paid — for every dollar we sent in to Washington, we get about 72 cents back. We’re a major payer of the federal government’s tabs, unlike many other states that I won’t mention. I say, when you’re paying to buy the pizza, it’s okay to have a slice. Now, if you were a liberal Democratic governor and you opposed military spending, are you not going to take National Guard funding? If you were a liberal who opposed No Child Left Behind, are you going to take federal funding in education? So I’m wondering why that standard is only being applied now to conservatives.”

Snap!

“All the governors are going to take almost all of the money. I’m not aware of any governor turning down a substantial amount. There’s some talk about not taking unemployment insurance — about 2 percent of the stimulus — because it expands obligations in unemployment insurance, and might require a tax increase later on down the road. But the point is moot to Minnesota, because our benefit level is already beyond what the federal government would require.”

Of course it’s politics – on Jindal and Barbour’s part no less than Pawlenty’s.  Pawlenty has a hideous, DFL-fathered deficit to close, while trying to buff up his rap sheet for a presidential run in the next 4-8 years; Jindal, Barbour and Sanford are aiming to be seen to Pawlenty’s  right.

Does it make a fiscal budget hawk happy?  Of course not; and Minnesota’s not a state of budget hawks.  Yet.

I just got this: 

SAINT PAUL –  The office of Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty announces that the staff of the radio talk show the “Northern Alliance Radio Network” will be taking over the duties of the state press-relations office.

“We think this is a slapshot for good government, and will put us square in the net as far as cost savings and turnaround”, Governor Pawlenty said in an impromptu statement at the Capitol this morning. 

The State Press Office oversees all media relations for all branches of Minnesota’s state government, from the Legislature through the Executive Branch.

The outsourcing of PR services is expected to save the state 45 million dollars a year.  But not everyone is thrilled by the idea.

“I’m outraged…Outraged…” said Ashley Grot-Puttanesca-Steubingfelder of “Peace Through Mandatory Unity”, a non-partisan Saint Paul-based affiliate of ACORN, “…outraged [brief pause to re-collect her thoughts] that the government of Minnesota would turn this vital job over to a bunch of partisans“.

Speaking on behalf of the Northern Alliance/State Press Office, Deputy Press Officer Chad The Elder replied “What kind of name is Ashley Grot-Puttanesca-Steubingfelder?  Good lord, pour me a drink – she’s ugly”.

Satiric fantasy?

Oh, this is Minnesota under the control of the unfettered DFL.  Of course not.

UPDATE:  A bad analogy?  Provided all the UpTake – an overtly left-leaning organization – does is provide a commentary-free feed, perhaps. 

I’ve had questions about the slant of UpTake’s coverage of events; to be fair, they’ve quickly and fairly answered those questions (as, indeed, I seek to do with this update).  To be prudent, it’s perfectly fair to ask if a group can serve two masters – an agenda and “fairness”.

Is UpTake providing a useful service, and doing it fairly?  Perhaps.

Can they – and Secretary of State Richie – expect to be watched carefully?  Absolutely.

As Governor Pawlenty prudently cuts aid to local government, these cities will in turn need to prioritize their expenditures.

I’ve got an idea. Cut lobbying expenditures.

Plymouth taking an exit from I-494 lobbying group

Unhappy that Interstate 494 has not been widened through Plymouth as it has through Minnetonka and Eden Prairie, Plymouth plans to pull out of the 494 Corridor Commission and pocket the $16,000 it would have contributed to the lobbying group next year.

Over the past 10 years, the city has paid more than $100,000 to be part of the multi-city group but without obvious benefit, Mayor Kelli Slavik said. “They don’t seem to be lobbying anything for Plymouth,” Slavik said. “If we are truly interested in getting a third lane on 494, then we need to refocus our efforts and spend that money more wisely.”

I can’t imagine $16,000 per year is a large line item for a city the size of Plymouth; that’s probably the annual fuel cost for one of their snow plows.

Some perspective:

Local governments spent a total of $7,817,620 on lobbying activities in 2007.

Sixty-five local governments (two more than in 2006) directly employed or hired contract

lobbyists in 2007Local governments paid dues of $10,024,137 in 2007 to local government associations that also represented their interests before the legislature.

Statewide, $18,000,000 per year and growing. Seems like a lot of money to hire someone else to spam the legislature with phone calls and emails.

Dopey me, I guess. I am sure there is so much more to the art of being a lobbyist.

Somehow the idea of taxpayer money being spent to lobby for taxpayer money smacks of government waste at best; corruption at worst.

The Strib’s post-election editorial holds no major suprises – those all came before the election, when the Strib surprisingly endorsed Norm Coleman over Al Franken.

But when I say “no surprises”, I also mean there’s no change in their overall policy toward Republicans; “the only good republican is one that’s indistinguishable from a DFLer”. 

First, on Governor Pawlenty:

Despite losing out to Sarah Palin in the VP competition, Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s future within the Republican Party remains bright. He’s a legitimate candidate for the GOP nomination in 2012, when he might well face Palin again. What will Pawlenty’s national aspirations mean for Minnesota?

Actually, they’d make a great team:  Palin, given four years to polish her approach, has the potential to be a Reagan-like spokeswoman for free-enterprise, limited government, and America as a “shining city” (as opposed to a sick, old giant that needs intensive care – the central message of Obama’s supporters, if not The One himself).  Pawlenty could provide the George HW Bush role – the duo’s technocrat, the head-knocker, the detail guy. 

That’s unclear, but what is certain is that Minnesota needs the governor to provide the state with skilled and pragmatic leadership as we negotiate a deep economic downturn and serious budget challenges. In January, he’ll be working with a new Legislature comprising more DFLers and fewer moderate Republicans. Pawlenty should read DFL legislative successes as a call from voters for him to take a less rigidly conservative posture as the state addresses what is expected to be a major budget deficit.

Good lord, why?

Indeed, that’d be exactly the wrong “lesson” to take from the election.

“Moderate” Republicanism – the GOP of facile sloganeering and going along to stay in power – was the biggest loser of the last two election cycles.  If Pawlenty doesn’t see the real message – that real conservatism, in the guise of Michele Bachmann, Erik Paulsen and John Kline was the big winner (among GOP factions, obviously – we got beaten nationwide, surely enough) in this past election – then he needs to.   

More than ever, Minnesotans need and expect problem-solving compromises at the Capitol.

And to Strib editors, “compromise” unfortunately always seems to be “shut up and go along with the DFL”. 

We can not have that.

The Strib moves on to the Ventura “Independence” Party.

Even harder questions need to be asked by, and of, the Independence Party. After another round of weak showings and indistinct messages by its candidates, the IP’s reason for existence is no longer clear. What is clear is that IP candidates were spoilers this year, contributing to the election of candidates who lacked majority support in several key races. David Dillon, the party’s Third District congressional candidate who won 11 percent of the vote, hit the right note Wednesday. “It’s a legitimate, fair question. It bugs some people in the Independence Party that we have to wonder what our purpose is if all we’re doing is ruining the results for one side.”

It’s a question I keep asking my V“I”P friends:  since your party really is nothing but Jesse Ventura’s ever-eroding legacy, and in non-presidential years you barely cling to major-party status in Minnesota, and the party’s essense is really just the most irritating possible combination of “DFL-Lite” policies and third-party idealism (“We greens/libertarians/Constitution Party/whatever are not in power, and never really will be (shaddap about Ventura), so of course we can solve all the world’s problems – in our minds!”), and they will never again win a single significant office in this state (and Minnesota’s  V“I”P is nothing but the ghostly, solitary echo of what was once Ross Perot’s “Reform” party, nationwide – then why do you exist? What is the goal?

Don’t say “Winning elections” – the Libertarians say the same thing, with about as much credibilty.

Does the  V“I”P really want to just go on as spoilers forever?  As they soak up votes for moderate/pragmatic DFLers (and people who are suckers for idealistic sloganeering) I’m fine with that, of course, but for your (plural) own good, you might wanna think about it…

…had crashed into the green room at Orchestra Hall last night, it could have had a sweeping effect on Minnesota conservatism.

At one point, I was sitting with Senator Coleman, Governor Pawlenty, Representative Bachmann, candidates Erik Paulsen (who will be a guest on the NARN this weekend), Barb Davis-White and Ed Matthews, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved, Dennis Prager and James Lileks, talking about the campaign locally and nationwide.

Not sure if anyone from the Strib covered “Talk The Vote” – Salem Radio’s cavalcade of stars touring battleground states nationwide to whip up conservative support – but if they had, they’d have found plenty of conservative support, er, whipped up.  Bear in mind, the Patriot’s been pleasantly surprised by turnout at these events before; the “Patriot Picnic” in 2004 drew hundreds more than we’d planned on, and our fabled Final Debate Party in 2004 attracted 700 to the Minneapolis Hilton – not bad, considering we’d had 100 RSVPs and it was a night every bit as cold and miserable as last Sunday was. 

Bear in mind also that this even was announced perhaps ten days ago, to an audience that largely has businesses and jobs and families and responsibilities.  The Patriot’s promotions department had figured maybe we’d fill up the floor level seats.

We filled every seat in the place; the floor and all three tiers of balconies.  There were people standing in the halls and the lobby, the last I checked.  And the crowd?

No lack of energy there.  Sorry, Sorosphere; after weeks of declaring the election already won, it’s just not sinking in with all of us plumbers and hockey moms.  Suffice to say that even if Mac loses, 2010 is going to make 1994 look like a Camp Wellstone sing-along.

The speakers?  Look – there are not three people anywhere in talk radio that can work a friendly room like Hugh, Michael and Dennis.  Especially Prager; you’d never know it from his fairly laid-back radio show, but in front of a room, the guy is like a nuclear reactor with the regulator rods pulled out; he gets the crowd stoked, and as the crowd’s energy picks up, so does his; I’ve never seen him speak from any kind of notes at all, so the whole world is his speech, and eventually he covers the whole world, getting more and more animated as he goes, stopping just short of pounding his shoe on the lectern.  An amazing performance, even allowing for the tactical flub of attacking Sweden at a stop in Minneapolis.

Me?  I’m feeling a lot better about this next week, and the next two years. 

So the veto of the gas tax didn’t result in the 35W bridge collapse?

My esteemed overlord hates to say “I told you so.”

Allow me.

Mitch told you so.

Number 1:  When the engineers finally release their report about what actually caused the 35W Bridge Collapse, a lot of regional lefties – Elwyn Tinklenberg, Rep. Alice Hausman, Nick Coleman and others among them – are going to owe the Governor, Lt. Gov/Transportation Commissioner Molnau, the Taxpayers’ League and the “hold the line on taxes” crowd – a lot of apologies for a lot of defamation.

Number 2: None of them will actually give those apologies.

Nick Coleman’s article of August 2nd is no longer linkable. But here are excerpts of Nick’s rabid blather at the time from Roosh Five:

The death bridge was “structurally deficient,” we now learn, and had a rating of just 50 percent, the threshold for replacement. But no one appears to have erred on the side of public safety. The errors were all the other way.

There isn’t any bigger metaphor for a society in trouble than a bridge falling, its concrete lanes pointing brokenly at the sky, its crumpled cars pointing down at the deep waters where people disappeared.

Nick Coleman: Drama Queen. Hack Journalist. Dead Wrong.

Only this isn’t a metaphor.

But when you have a tragedy on this scale, it isn’t just concrete and steel that has failed us.

In a word, it was avoidable.

For half a dozen years, the motto of state government and particularly that of Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been No New Taxes. It’s been popular with a lot of voters and it has mostly prevailed. So much so that Pawlenty vetoed a 5-cent gas tax increase – the first in 20 years – last spring and millions were lost that might have gone to road repair. And yes, it would have fallen even if the gas tax had gone through, because we are years behind a dangerous curve when it comes to the replacement of infrastructure that everyone but wingnuts in coonskin caps agree is one of the basic duties of government.

I’m not just pointing fingers at Pawlenty. The outrage here is not partisan. It is general.

At the federal level, the parsimony is worse, and so is the negligence. A trillion spent in Iraq, while schools crumble, there aren’t enough cops on the street and bridges decay while our leaders cross their fingers and ignore the rising chances of disaster.

I-35W bridge was doomed from the start

Investigators will say the blame lies with designers who erred in calculating the size of key gusset plates, sources say.

Original designers of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis likely neglected to calculate the size of key gusset plates that eventually failed, a human mistake that culminated 40 years later when 13 people died after the span collapsed, federal safety investigators have found.

They also have determined that corrosion of certain gusset plates, extreme heat and shifting piers did not contribute to the bridge’s collapse on Aug. 1, 2007, according to sources with direct knowledge of the probe.

Elwyn Tinklenberg, Rep. Alice Hausman, Nick Coleman will undoubtedly not be reachable for comment. Mr. Coleman’s resume can probably be found on Monster.com.

Regional pundits that remember the seventies constantly bemoan the lack of “bipartisanship” in Minnesota politics.

Of course, the only “bipartisanship” they seem to get around to is the kind were Republicans act like and coalesce around DFL positions.

Never, ever stories like this:

Longtime DFL legislator Doug Johnson said he was ingrained with the political philosophy of Minnesota legendary Senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey — “The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican.”

But on Nov. 4, the former chairman of the powerful state Senate Tax Commission, will split his vote for the first time ever. His ballot will be marked in a familiar Democratic way for Barack Obama for president, Jim Oberstar for 8th District congressman, Tom Bakk for state senator and David Dill for state representative. But in the U.S. Senate race, Johnson will cast his vote for incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

So when the Override Six betrayed Republican Party principles and stabbed Governor Pawlenty in the back, Lori Sturdevant demanded that the GOP keep a wide, Wide, Wide open mind toward their self-interested treachery, and chided the GOP for trying to squash the traitors.

Wonder how Johnson’s move is going to play in the DFL – and with the likes of Sturdevant?

UPDATE:  Welcome Hot Air readers!

originally posted 2:35 PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) is canceling print and broadcast interviews for the day…

Strib

Pawlenty cancels TV interviews

Pioneer Press

Pawlenty abruptly cancels afternoon interviews in Denver

CNN is reporting a “cone of silence” forming around Governor Pawlenty and that friends of the Governor are suddenly not able to reach him (which is not uncommon if he is in fact flying at the moment).

Pawlenty cancels media interviews

Asked if he has the experience to be vice president, Pawlenty reminded reporters, as he often does, that he does not address GOP presidential V.P. speculation.

Pawlenty then went on to say: “I would note I have been a governor for six years, commander in chief of the Minnesota National Guard for six years, and before that I was the majority leader of the Minnesota Legislature. [I] have some other life experiences as well.”

VP selection process complete, McCain campaign confirms

Drudge posts “Romney Family gets Security Sweep” and then pulls it, but leaves up “PAWLENTY CANCELS NUMEROUS PUBLIC APPEARANCES…“

4:50 PM: A neighbor of Governor Pawlenty is reporting to me that news helicopters are hovering overhead.

6 PM: Drudge: Meet Tim Pawlenty…

9:59 PM: McCain camp won’t reveal VP tonight (I’m going to bed)

Early 8/29: Pawlenty confirms in an interview with WCCO Radio that he will not be in Ohio today and is not McCain’s choice for Vice President.

HT “Chuck”

Rod Hamilton – one of the six “Republican” legislators who stabbed Governor Pawlenty in the back last session – is learning the hard way; the DFL doesn’t make Republican friends; they just recruit stooges:

Six months ago, Rod Hamilton was center stage in the biggest drama at the State Capitol. And so was Hwy. 60, a crucial roadway splitting southern Minnesota that many believe is in need of expansion and improvements.

Today, the theatrics continue, with Hamilton in effect complaining that he was duped, and Hwy. 60 is no nearer to getting the attention he thinks it needs.

And so Hamilton – with five other Republicans In Name Only – joined with the DFL to ram through one of the most egregious tax hikes in Minnesota history.

Oh, he had his reasons…:

At the time Hamilton made things clear: If DFLers would provide funding for Hwy. 60, they would get his vote.

When Hamilton, a pork producer [Hahahahahahahaha! – Ed.] whose district relies heavily on the highway, cast his vote to override, the legislation contained 22 lines that appeared to instruct the Minnesota Department of Transportation to give Hwy. 60 a higher priority for funding.

…but that all depends on what the definition of the term “is” “funded” is.

But MnDOT now contends the language was never clear and is withholding any commitment to the Hwy. 60 project.

What’s more, the key DFL legislator who sponsored the transportation bill said Hamilton misunderstood the language concerning Hwy. 60.

Rod Hamilton:  Traitor?  Naive?  Stupid?  All the above?

I bet it all seemed like such a good idea back when Lori Sturdevant was offering to paint his toenails…

I’ve heard Governor Pawlenty talk live twice while he’s been governor and have been tremendously impressed by his unflappable posture and his ability to successfully steer a talk away from politics when the subject of the talk was clearly not politics.

He is one of the most comfortable, adept leaders we have had around here in years and certainly the GOP and McCain have taken notice for some time now.

Yesterday in Ames Iowa the Governor spoke out in a way that may portend a near future role in the McCain campaign as it was uncharacteristic of Tim Pawlenty.

“He’s put so many contingencies around it that I wonder, in fact I question, whether he would do it at all,” Pawlenty said after he helped open Republican campaign office in Ames. “It may be a way for him to gain favor during the election, and tube it later because all the contingencies weren’t met.”

Pawlenty further criticized Obama, saying there is not one issue of national prominence where he has led the country. He said a vote for Obama “is the political equivalent of bungee jumping.”

A clear shot at Obama, Pawlenty’s comments are uncharacteristically direct, and encouraging as it relates to the Governor’s political future.

His cool and unflappable reputation gives his criticism of Obama a certain gravitas and McCain is going to need all the help he can get. 

Something I missed in the crush of events this past week: the north and south banks of the Mississippi are connected again:

Image is from the MNDoT webcam.

You don’t want to drive on it yet, naturally – but last Wednesday, the contractors did the final pour to connect the main segments of the northbound span.

The southbound span should be getting connected any day now. Expect an angry column from Nick Coleman blaming Governor Pawlenty for the delay.

When you earn your living by trying to explain things to other people, one of the first lessons you learn is “try to use language your subject can understand – language that is accessible to the person you’re trying to expain to”.

I try to apply this lesson to the rest of my life.

Molly “Is It White In Here” Priesmeyer seems to have drawn the “real estate” beat for the Minnesoros Monitor “Independent”.  This despite the fact that her understanding of key real estate concepts like “equity” seems to be just a tad suspect…

…but that’s OK.  We’re all about the teaching today.

In a piece that came out in the  Monitor “Independent” last week, she wrote about Governor Pawlenty’s  veto of the Floyd Olson-style  foreclosure moratorium (emphasis added):

But the homeowners suffering with subprime or negative amortization loans are offered no recourse — including a simple deferment period that still required payments — because, according to Gov. Pawlenty, helping homeowners renegotiate loan terms would make credit more difficult to obtain.

Ms. Priesmeyer states that as if she finds it implausible – which brings up two possibilities:

1. She is actively trying to disinform the Monitor “Independent” reader,
2. She doesn’t know any better.

You know good ol’ pollyanna Mitch; I’ll assume it’s really #2.

So I’ll try to explain this concept – the notion of unintended consequences of government action – in a language Molly Priesmeyer might understand.

“So, like, remember when you lent your totally cute feedbag purse to Ashley, your roommate from Saint Olaf/Macalester/Carlton/wherever it was you did your undergrad?  The documentary filmmaker and telemarketer? And on Monday when you wanted it back, she said she didn’t, like, have it with her?”

“And you gave her another week, because the purse is, like, totally cute, but then you like needed it?  And you met her at “Drink” and like asked her, and she totally said she’d bring it to Chino on Monday?”

“And then on Monday, she totally flaked, and said she’d have it for you on Friday?  And you’re like “Byatch, I need my purse?”, but you totally gave her til Friday?”

“And on Friday, you met her, and of course she flaked again.  And you were totally pissed.  But Ashley had brought Justin, this guy from St. Thomas that she buys X from, and he was like totally cute wearing Roc-A-Wear, which is normally kinda  poser on a white boy, but Justin was kinda hot in that bad-boy kind of way…”

“…anyway, Justin said that Ashley would bring the purse back when she could, and quit bugging her or he’d, like, totally slash it up.”

“So like, totally, how likely are you to ever lend Ashley anything again?”

“Like, doyy”.

A guy’s gotta try.

Since the GOP nomination’s been wrapped up for almost three months, now, the question “Who’ll Mac pick for VP” has been gurgling about the place.

Governor Pawlenty, of course, has been a key contender for a long, long time; young, great approval, decent if not invincible record of success as governor and legislator, conservative enough to not spark a rebellion in the provinces, and he supported Mac when it wasn’t cool to be in the McCain camp.

But as Gary Miller at TvM notes in reversing his own prediction:

The problem is that the GOP has a a dearth of talent in both our gubernatorial and congressional ranks. I couldn’t help but read this Redstate roundtable on possible veep choices and feel discouraged — much like those who participated in the discussion.  The most likely choices all have significant electoral or ideological shortcomings…

Which takes out Sanford, I think, as well.  South is out in the GOP.

Miller:

My reptilian brain stem has been working on finding someone who meets the following seemingly impossible criteria: 1) palatable (if not exciting) to conservatives; 2) satisfactory name recognition; 3) geographic advantages; 4) able to reaffirm McCain’s maverick creds; 5) able to assume the presidency should tragedy strike; 6) not necessarily currently in politics.

Allow me to offer the name of MSNBC host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough.

Hm.

Hmmmmm.

I had not thought about this:

Scarborough boasts a rock-solid lifetime ACU rating of 95.  Even so, he does not shrink from criticizing Republicans when events warrant so he would help brandish the McCain maverick brand.  He does not harken from, or have any association with, the unpopular Bush Administration or current congressional GOP leadership as he left the House to spend more time with his children in early 2001.  His name recognition is not off the charts but would still probably exceed that of many of the other contenders.

OK.  The affirmative case is there.  The most important thing for GeeEmInEm to do is not blow the case with a complete howler…:

He is obviously telegenic and well-spoken.

Ooof-da.  There ya go.

Now, I’ll cop to the fact that I watch very little cable news and almost no cable talk shows.  But the times I”ve seen Scarborough I wasn’t especially impressed with the “speaking” bit.  I’ll allow that I could be wrong.

Someone convince me.

Miller also noted:

Meanwhile, two of the more exciting prospects, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin, are long on vision but short on experience.

Compared to Obama and Clinton?

I’ll admit I’ve gotten a bit more excited about Jindal lately.  I think his pluses far outweigh his minuses: Young, solidly conservative without the “paleo”, “neo” or “doctrinaire” labels, ethnic, in-but-not-of the south…

…and Catholic.  Michael Medved noted at dinner the other night that Catholics whom make under six digits – a fair chunk of the “Reagan Republican” coalition of 28 years ago – will likely be the swingiest of the swing votes in this election.

Somebody convince me.

A few weeks ago, when the Legislature overrode Governor Pawlenty’s veto of the Transit Subsidy “Transportation” Taxpayer Gougefest Bill, we were subjected to an endless, nauseating, hypocritical run of up-sucking from the DFLMedia/Sorosphere about the eight RINOS who betrayed the governor and their party when it came time to try to save the veto – especially Ron Erhard (“R”, district 41B). 

Brad Carlson noticed something I missed

see, according to Democrats, a GOP member is to receive much adulation for “doing the right thing” by “voting their conscience.” However, Rep. Mary Ellen Otremba (D-Long Prairie) was not afforded that same courtesy by her seemingly lovestruck party. Did you notice Rep. Otremba didn’t dare uphold her initial “no” vote on the bill? Had she and John Lesch (D-St Paul) maintained their respective “no” votes when it came to the veto override, then the Governor’s action would have been upheld, resulting in killing the bill. Somehow I get the feeling that the DFL wouldn’t have been as complimentary towards two members of their own party for “voting their conscience.”

Silly Brad.  Mavericks are only good when they stymie the GOP.

…if any were needed, that liberals must be kept away from the machinery of power, since they just don’t know what they’re doing; Jeff Fecke over at Sorosmania the MinMon (and I swear, this is not satire) covers Governor Pawlenty’s tax cut proposal (emphasis added):

Saying that “The economy in our country is under great strain,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed a sales tax cut of 1/8 percent on Friday as part of his supplemental budget proposal.

The move is something of a surprise, as the state faces a $935 million shortfall in the state’s biennial budget.

The move is a surprise – if you’ve been under a rock since 1980 (or at least if George Soros is paying to pretend you’ve been under one).
For the rest of us? Not so much.

Last week, the Minnesota GOP acted against the six House “Republicans” who voted with the Tics to override Governor Pawlenty’s veto of the “Transportation” Bill.  The House GOP Caucus stripped the six of their committee leadership positions and other party-assigned perks; movements to unseat them proceeded from the bottom up as well, with Kathy Tingelstad losing her endorsement last week, other endorsements very much in jeopardy, and with Keith Downey running a very credible campaign against Rino Ron Erhardt in Edina (which, although I don’t endorse candidates because, well, I’m just a guy with a blog, I heartily urge every Republican in District 41A to get out and support Downey at this Saturday’s convention).  

The DFLSorosMedia reacted predictably; they lauded the RINO Six as “courageous“, they insulted the intelligence of those who disagreed, they pondered “Why Are Republicans So Close-Minded?”

For acting – y’know – like a political party.

That is, actually, just background for this next bit. Ponder the DFLSorosMedia’s love of “diversity of thought” as you read this account of a moderate DFLer and long-time DFL delegate’s dissent from party orthodoxy – on abortion and the war. 

And only on abortion and the war.

And wait to see when you’ll see the DFLSorosMedia demanding “open-mindedness” from the Tics.

And wait.

And wait.

Governor Pawlenty vetoes the Mass Transit Subsidy Act “Transportation Bill“.

Republicans, consider yourself on notice. Screw the governor on this, and the regional alt-media will be on you like lobbyists on a Gold Card.

And we forget nothing.

Over at True North, Gary Gross writes:

This sets up an override showdown that’s likely to start Monday. The House DFL did tons of armtwisting yesterday but still couldn’t gather the 90 votes needed to override Gov. Pawlenty’s promised veto. I’m higly doubtful that they’ll be able to get the extra vote needed to override in the House.

As usual, Steve Murphy, this blogger’s best ‘Senate friend’, provided this quote:

Sen. Steve Murphy, the Red Wing DFLer who authored the bill, said the package creates jobs, fixes bridges with structural problems and provides funding for road safety.

“This is serious business,” said Murphy, DFL-Red Wing. “Lives are at stake, and in greater Minnesota hundreds of lives are at stake.”

When Al Gore left the national stage, I worried that there’d be a dearth of liberal hyperbole. At the time, I didn’t know that Steve Murphy existed. It’s obvious that Sen. Murphy more than adequately makes up for Algore’s hyperbolic rants. His quote insinuates that the GOP alternative bill wouldn’t address the needs that the DFL bill does. That’s arrogance in the first degree. It’s also wildly inaccurate.

Watch for them to claim the bill woulda prevented the crash in Cottonwood, next.

Andy Aplikowski gets the scoop of the week, over at RezFor and True North.

The DFL plying Republicans to try to get them to override another gubernatorial tax-bill veto:

I followed a tip this evening down to Monte Carlo in downtown Minneapolis. I was told that Republican Reps. Bud Heidgerken (R) 13A & Dean Urdahl (R) 18B had dinner date with Democrat Speaker of the House Margaret Kelliher. I had earlier hinted at some detective work for the evening over at True North and lo and behold, my source was correct. There was a 3rd man who was there who I think I recognized as a possible legislator, but I am not sure, it could have been an aide, although he arrived between Urdahl & Heidgerken and when Kelliher got there.

Dinner at 7:30PM ….. well truth be told, Kelliher was a little behind time and arrived at 7:44, the boys were early.

Monte Carlo is a rather fancy establishment and the meeting was in one of the private rooms in the rear of the restaurant out of sight. My girlfriend came along on the outing. We had a meal and desert. Our tab with tip was just over $100 with 2 drinks per. No doubt the combined per diems for Bud, Dean, and Maggie were more than enough to cover their cost.

No word on whether Andy’s girlfriend paid the tab – although with this kind of scoop, hell, I’d have paid for ’em both.

I digress. Andy continues:

While we were waiting for them to arrive, I got an email from someone at the Capitol.

Andy –

Not sure who gave you your info, but here is some more accurate people to list on who is thinking of overriding the Governor.

1) Remove Abeler. He isn’t doing it. You can call his office and find out.
2) Add the following people to your list. Again, if you call/email any of them and ask, I believe each refuses to sign the veto pledge.
– Neil Peterson
– Pat Garafalo
– Larry Howes
– Mike Beard
– Dennis Ozment C
all /email anyone of them and they should confirm this unless they’ve changed their mind.

I can do one better on calling and asking if they have signed it, and let my readers know that as of 5 PM only 5 of the 49 Republicans have signed the Veto Protection Pledge and there was reported (to me) to be no Caucus pressure to do so. Also in regards to Abler, the person close to him I spoke with earlier was unable to confirm if they would support the override if the Metro Wide sales tax was removed, which was his main sticking point of initial support.

All kidding aside, great work, Andy.

And if you are a conservative in a district represented by a Republican, you need to get on the phone today and light a fire under their butts. Call, Twist arms. Put the pressure on.

For all the lumps Governor Pawlenty takes from conservatives for one stance or another (mostly wrongly, I think), in this case he’s doing what we conservatives demanded of him six years ago.

It’s time for actual conservatives to step up and cover his back with the legislature as best we can. Call. Email. Hell, storm into their offices in a fury, for all I care – but get the word across.

And as to you, in the GOP caucus? Get with the program! If you want to become a third party in this state, just keep on betraying conservative principle!

The inner cities have their issues. If you’re in Minnesota and reading this, you know about them; you’ve either fled them, are paying for them via your taxes, or are – like me – living among them.

Minneapolis and Saint Paul are taxed half to death; Minneapolis’ crime rate has fallen from brutally-high to merely ridiculously-high, with a murder rate higher than New York, Boston, LA, San Francisco.  Higher, indeed, – ironically, given how Minneapolis’ political, academic and media elites sniff at them – than Mobile, Omaha (twice as high!), Tampa, Jacksonville, higher in fact than all of the major cities in Texas but one (and only slightly off Houston’s pace).  Only marginally lower than Chicago. (Saint Paul’s is quite low by major-city standards – 60% lower than Minneapolis – a testament to Saint Paul’s excellent police department, strong neighborhoods, and at least a couple of relatively sane administrations).

The cities are addicts; their drug is money. Nearly four decades ago, the “Minnesota Miracle” enacted the idea of “Local Government Aid”, which as the DFL’s stranglehold on the inner cities accelerated turned into an eternal subsidy of DFL inner-city policy by the parts of the state that actually pay their way. Governor Pawlenty’s cuts in LGA acted the same way as cutting off the heroin acts on a jonesing junkie; the addict went crazy. The body couldn’t get along without the drug; the drug had incorporated itself into the body’s chemistry. City governments had been providing “services” far beyond what their eroding tax based could provide, even as their left-leftward-moving policies drove more and more of the tax base out of the cities themselves. When LGA cuts forced cities to pass the “service” costs directly to their own tax bases, and the cities were forced to pay their own bills – well, you’ve read the headlines and the op-ed pages, right?

And yet, election after election, the DFL stranglehold over the inner city not only deepens, but gets more and more radical; Greens now have a solid foothold in Minneapolis; Saint Paul’s “Gang of Four” ultra-liberal councilpeople is now a Gang of Five. Policies that were madness thirty years ago are commonplaces today.

How did it get this way?

90% of politics is local. And the DFL understood this from the very beginning, and over the past fifty years has extended its reach into every corner of life in the Cities.

Is there hope?

More tomorrow.