Well That Is a Fine Mess You Got Us Into
Posted by Andy on September 25th, 2007
So, for those of you who thought Pawlenty has conquered the mighty DFL with one fail swoop on the special session regarding the 35W bridge, you may want to look again. The DFL has been paying attention, and is going to make you eat your words.
“Less than three weeks ago the lieutenant governor said they didn’t need legislative help,” Murphy [DFL MN Senator & Transportation Chair] said, referring to Carol Molnau, who also serves as transportation commissioner. Now, he said, “they’re telling us projects will be delayed or canceled unless they get this approval. The fact is, they need new revenue and we need a special session on transportation to deal with this.”
This comes on the heels of reports that other MNDOT projects will be put on hold until the 35W bridge is dealt with. Truth be told, yeah, rebuilding the 35W bridge has to be THE priority for MNDOT.
Problem is, Governor Tim Pawlenty opened doors one cannot close in Minnesota with out excruciating levels of screaming from the usual suspects. Tax increases. Yep the almighty TPaw may have won over the operatives and pundits with his ‘everything is on the table’ talk in the wake of the collapse, but he has little choice now but to act on his (ahem) proposal and raise the gas tax.
Measure twice cut once.
That should also go for political statements and calculations. Unfortunately, when one has unquestioning support and loyalty, I suppose one doesn’t have to consider the reprecussions of bad decisions and political posturing.
$34 billion should be enough my friends.
Time will tell if Minnesotans lose as badly as the DFL wants them to. More importantly, we’ll have to see if every single Republican candidate has to face the question in 2008, “why are Republicans refusing to increase transportation revenue?” Of course the easy come back, is “Minnesotans are taed enough. We have plenty of money, but we don’t spend it wisely. We need to re-prioritize the way we spend all the money we already have.”
I hope that we don’t have to wait until next Summer for Republicans to start talking about re-prioritizing state spending. That could be devastating for Minnesotans if no one is looking out for them during the transportation debate in the upcoming regular or special session.
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September 25th, 2007 at 7:39 am
I would suggest an alternate answer: Why, if transportation is such a high priority, did the DFL legislature shortchange funding for roads and bridges, when it was entirely within their power to have done so? Or, put another way, “what did you do with the LAST $34 Billion we gave you?
I also think Republicans have to have the stomach to answer the charge that their refusal to raise taxes “got those people killed” in the bridge collapse. (Really! We’ve all heard it.) My answer would be, “That’s stupid and hateful. Next question.”