The Governor’s New Clothes
Is the private sector dead in Minnesota? I’m asking because it seems to be by the sounds of the rumblings about what isn’t in the already ginormous bonding bill proposed by Governor Pawlenty. Here is a story about some Duluth projects that weren’t in there, but may very well end up in there. More bleeping handouts.
Both projects can proceed and even come to fruition without the governor’s support at this time — what matters is his signature on a final bonding bill that emerges after all the compromises have been made by lawmakers. But rail enthusiasts can be encouraged by Pawlenty’s inclusion of two other train or transit projects on his list: A request for $60 million to complete the Minneapolis-Big Lake commuter rail line and $2.5 million for the Central Corridor Project to run trains or high-speed buses downtown-to-downtown between Minneapolis and St. Paul. His Central Corridor request is only a token amount compared to the $50 million sought by some promoters, and nowhere near the $840 million needed before the first train pulls out of a station. Yet it indicates a progression in Pawlenty’s appreciation and understanding of rail transit that’s far evolved from his days as a legislator unimpressed by anything running on steel wheels.
If there was demand for it, wouldn’t the private sector pick up on it. (I know AmTrak ain’t exactly private.) Just why the heck are we all of a sudden talking about trains to nowhere, everywhere? What the heck has happened to personal responsibility? Has the Governor truly lost his way?
I think the problem lies more with advisors than the Governor himself. But regardless, we can get everything he is pushing from a Democrat. So I ask, why should I bust my hump to get a Republican elected if it is just a Democrat in Republican clothes.
This is not the Republican agenda, that is the problem. He isn’t holding the line against the Democrats, he is carrying it to their side of the aisle and out “handouting” them. It is really ironic that the Democrats still hate him, he has done more in his first term than the Democrats in the legislature have for their side.
It is being bantered around that we need to get more Republicans elected into the House and Senate. And that if we do, Pawlenty’s leftward drift will be corrected. I only hope that will work, but given the fact that a lot of people in the public (who used to believe in what Republicans stood for) are pretty darn POed, and are threatening to stay home. Public perception of the Party is with the highest elected official, that is the Governor. Unless, as I called for before, someone else can stand up and be our shining knight, we’re screwed.
Knock on all the doors you want, but if you’re selling a dead horse, you’re selling a dead horse.
Hi Andy,
I think that Tony has made a good point about working from the bottom up. As a fellow BPOU chair, I would like know more about how your local GOP candidates stand on these issues.
Who are your local candidates?
What issues do they plan to run on?
How do these issues contrast with your DFL opponents?
How do there issues resonate with your local constituency?
This might make for an interesting post.
The only problem is that when the top of the ticket bucks the bottom of it on the issues, it is really darn hard to get anyone excited about any of it.
Do you have any candidates in SD51?
Q: Just why the heck are we all of a sudden talking about trains to nowhere, everywhere? A: because we elected a moderate Democrat, or a Dem wannabe – a guy who thinks he can “make friendly” with the Dems, and it’ll get him some votes – stupid!
Q: What the heck has happened to personal responsibility?” A: He lost to T-Paw in the endosrement (Sullivan)
Q: Has the Governor truly lost his way? A: that’s certainly rhetorical, right?
I think the way to change the debate is to elect more Republicans to the State House and Senate.
You guys are going to like our local SD63 Republican candidates. You can check them out at the SD63 Chili Dinner on February 7th.
http://www.sd63.org/chili.htm
We are ready to Rock in SD63!
Rob, what I am saying is that you can have all the great people you want, but if your “leader” is working against what you think is right, it is nearly impossible to get enthused to get other people to be. I would believe you if Pawlenty wasn’t the one doing the proposing of all the fracking spending, and big government programs. For frack’s sake, All the DFL has to do to get state wide bans on anything, trains everywhere, free health care, and free secondary education; is get out of Pawlenty’s way. That is the problem. I don’t think if we had 20 seat majorities in either house it would slow down the spending spree Pawlenty is on.
Forget the spending, he is expanding government. That is unarguably out of the Republican agenda.
Guy – I regretably agree.
Good point, motivation is key to success.
My Senate District knows this very well. We have not had an elected Republican for over 25 years. So how do we keep going? I have found that our candidates are more motivated by strong local leadership. I’ve been rebuilding my district for over 3 years now and I think that we finally have an organization in a place to run a competitive campaign. I have a couple of candidates that are really going to work hard this election year. They are excited about having a strong BPOU to support them and for having a platform to communicate about the issues that they are concerned about. It should be fun.
Keep up the good work with your Blog. I may not always agree with your conclusions, but I think that you are probably one of the best local bloggers out there. I really like your focus on Minnesota political environment.
I’ll see you at the Chili Dinner.
PS: I really would like to hear more about your BPOU. This may be a good forum for us to share ideas about what works.
If Pawlenty had a GOP house and a GOP senate with a healthy margin, he would at least be able to act more conservative. The bottom is always more important than the top unless the bottom allows itself to get pushed around.
Great point Marty,
The majority sets the agenda. Let’s get to work and start electing more GOP State House and Senate members.