Gov. Tim Pawlenty who made serious gains in the good will department with the fiscally responsible people in the state when he line item vetoed the Bonding bill, has just erased all those gains. 

The Central Corridor light-rail line, which has become a pawn in back-and-forth negotiations at the Capitol, is back in a budget proposal made by Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Wednesday.

There will be a voter revolt this November. (Barring major mishandling by the Party leadership, fingers crossed) Republicans will pick up seats in the Minnesota House. Pawlenty and Legislators are mortgaging the future of Minnesota’s children on all these pork barrel pet projects. 

Central Corridor is a boondoggle waiting to happen. Pawlenty did the right thing when he put it back on the wish list shelf. He made up for his betrayal of the taxpayer when he allowed Hennepin County to raise taxes with out a vote on the Twins tax in 2005. The rumors of him not fighting hard to sustain his veto during that Friday afternoon meeting with Republican House members still irks many fiscal conservatives. 

But his rekindled sense of fiscal sanity in cutting out the Corridor was a breathe of fresh air for many of us who see Minnesota headed toward unsustainable Government spending. But it was short lived and now I’m left to wonder if Pawlenty does have another job he will make his legacy out of. 

When in DC I was asked about Pawlenty in terms of Vice President. Of course I answered honestly and said that it would be a terrible idea. I said both McCain and Pawlenty are Big Government Republicans. Pretty solid on taxes, but terrible on spending. They are cut from the same mold. McCain needs a rock solid limited Government Conservative to balance the ticket, not pick a ticket mate that is just like him. 

I don’t think Tim pawlenty wants to be the guy who is remembered as destroying the Midway of St. Paul. I don’t think he wants to be remembered as the guy who allowed state spending to increase exponentially at a time of recession. I don’t think he wants to be remembered as the guy who has committed the state to programs, projects, and policies that will have lasting negative ramifications and huge costs hurting the state economy and forcing Minnesota citizens to sacrifice freedom, choice, and treasure. 

Pawlenty has been a decent Governor, but he has been a terrible fiscal, limited Government conservative. Like Bush has stumbled and ruined what could have been a good legacy. Bush’s, and Republicans in Congress along with him, blew it in the first half of his second term. 

Pawlenty has to have plans for the future. I don’t think being a former Governor is enough for him. I think the time spent on the campaign trail with McCain has gone to his head and rekindled the self-serving Republican in him. He is supporting flat out liberal energy and environmental problems. He is expanding the burden of Government on citizens and taxpayers. Now he is not all bad, but neither is the soon to be former President. But what they have done wrong (and those things are mostly when they worked with the Democrats on liberal agenda items) will leave lasting headaches and painful, costly policies for future generations to deal with. 

Does he really want to be another Arne Carlson? As in a former Republican Governor who left behind a legacy chalk full of liberal agenda items and policies all marked accomplished. That guy was on local morning news this AM, and he still puts a bad taste in my mouth when they introduce him as a Republican. He’s a liberal. Just look at his tenure and listen to what he says. 

So what will Tim Pawlenty’s legacy look like if his last public service act is Governor of Minnesota? What will Minnesota, and more importantly Republicans, think of his time as Governor? Unfortunately I am not too happy with his tenure so far. Central Corridor just happens to be the perfect example of how he is not acting in the best interest of all Minnesotans, let alone limited government conservatives. 

The DFL is testing him beyond, what I fear are, his limits. They are hitting where it hurts and trying to drive the final wedge between him and his base to destroy his aspirations for calling DC his home. 

Will he be known as the Republican Governor who signed into law policies that hand over control to bureaucrats  in California who get to make every single thing in Minnesota cost more, ban the sale and purchase of certain necessities deemed as tabu by feel good environmentalists, and force us all to drive Specs that have room for your arse and a bag of organic groceries? 

(long rant I know)Back to get back to the point. If the DFL will build a state park and Vet’s hospital, he’ll sign on to the billion dollar boondoggle that will destroy a historic park of our city, create added congestion rather then reduce it, and add millions in annual operating costs to already over taxed citizens at multiple levels. 

Pawlenty can save his legacy from being just another Arne, but he has to act sooner rather than tomorrow. The clock is not just ticking, the alarm already went off, Pawlenty hit the snooze button with his veto-palooza. But can he sustain the courage and backbone he had when he did that? It seems to come and go far to often to keep him from being just another Arne kinda of former Republican Governor. 

He must be trying to create an image and personality that will serve him in the recruitment to another position. Secretary Pawlenty? But of what?

Saudi Arabia of renewable energy…… how’s that working out for us?

Municipal Welfare is alive and well in Minnesota. The State Legislature is rolling out the state taxpayer ATM to send $90 million to cities.

State aid to cities would increase by $90 million under legislation that has garnered support from large and small communities as a way to reduce the local property tax burden on homeowners and businesses.

The tax and spend liberals have cleverly cloaked the practice of municipal welfare under the term “property tax relief”. It is a lie and a scam. The reason property taxes are so high and on teh rise, is that your County and City are spending like drunken sailors.

When the state buys down the property taxes through municipal welfare with state taxpayer’s hard earned money it doesn’t solve the problem of the local city or county living with it its revenue means. Not all cities anc counties can afford to have taj mahalls and museums that serve a dual purpose as a government building.

Binge spending is causing Americans to live on credit. Like our government, we’ve been living on credit, and by the monthly payment. Sooner or later we’ll be forced to come to the rude awakening that money doesn’t grow on trees and we’re not going to win the lottery. In the end we will have to pay the price or the penalties.

City, County, and State spending is out of control. They are spending  like mad, and most city officials I have heard from blame high property taxes on state revenue. That’s a cowardly cop out. I heard Fridley’s mayor whining yesterday about ‘getting $2 million less’. Less than what? When money was flowing out of St. Paul as fast as could be?

Yeah, those were great times. Cities used all that money for all sorts of nifty pet projects and “wish list” items. Few used that money responsibly, and just about every City Manager out there based their budgets out of the State taxpayer gift check.

The problem with Property taxes is city and county spending. School levies and referendums do add up and raise your taxes. City and County appraisers made dang sure to adjust your taxable value while the market was riding high so as to increase property tax revenue as much as possible.

Well, the economy is going into the tank. People are having trouble paying their normal bills, let alone the ones the government is trying to send them. A massive energy tax increase just passed. The State took the restraints off XCEL Energy with their rate increases/ Your car tabs will now be more expensive. That gas you put in it will cost more and if Pawlenty gets his 20% ethanol demand you’re going to need more of it to go as far as you can today on a gallon.

Then, let’s not forget that we’re facing Sales Tax increases as a possibility to absorb too. So everything will now be much more expensive. And all for the good of transit: which means not roads and bridges.

Minnesotans are taxed enough. Where the revenue comes from doesn’t matter one iota to us. It all comes from us.

If politicians really want to do anything about the high property taxes, they need to do something about the spending.

Its the spending stupid! Its your spending. Live with in your means. If you can’t handle the job of accountability, then get out of the way.

Man, I Wish I Had a Billion Dollar Credit Limit or, that I was employed by a public works contractor.

The Minnesota Senate overwhelmingly passed a $1.1 billion state borrowing bill today, setting the stage for fast-track negotiations between the Senate, the House, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

So much for being in a transportation crisis. Most of the money went to municipal and higher ed welfare.

Once again, the tax and spend liberals prove that they think that somehow if the Government just gets a little bigger, and spends a lot more, it can save the world. Of course they refuse to admit why we are in or headed towards a recession. That is high energy prices and the looming debt of all the tax revenue required to pay for the government spending, binding payments, and deficits.

Next stop for the contractors and bureaucrats looking for free money for their pet projects? The MN House will take up the bill Wednesday or Thursday to add their own pet projects.

Crossposted at True North

Via Sen Minority Leader Sen. Dave Senjem.

Several controversial issues in the House and in committees will be making their way to the Senate soon, including proposals for tightening auto emissions standards, state-sponsored consumer health plans, revisions to JOBZ, and judicial elections. It’s likely that next week we will hear the Senate version of a bill passed this week in the House for a $40 million state victims compensation fund that will assist I-35W survivors. Also, the complex and controversial plan to give state funding to stem cell research has been revived.

The Senate is about to take up the Veto Override too. It is going to pass barring a brave Democrat crossing party lines and joining Republicans to sustain. I would be absolutely amazed if the 22 Republicans hold together.

Emails and text messages are saying Sen. Frederickson and Steve Dille are to be watched.

Again it doesn’t matter, but any Republican Senator who votes to override should be held accountable as well. And probably more since they don’t even have to vote for the override for it to pass.

I received the following email regarding my Can You Hang On A Minute? We’re Screwed #1 & 2 posts.

All revenue raising bills must originate in the House, so any tax increase bill must start there and, therefore, come up there first after the inevitable veto.  At that point, they will need five Republicans to reach the 90 votes necessary to override - assuming all 85 Democrats line up to override.  Remember:  The only bipartisanship on taxes last year was AGAINST them.  Some Democrats voted against income tax increases and to uphold the gas tax veto.

The person is correct on the revenue increases (Tax increases) having to originate in the House. The scary point of these posts is that they could impeach judges. That requires the Senate to have the hearing, and the DFL has the 2/3rds required. After that it is just a simple majority in the House. Again, they have that.

And as far as veto overrides, I don’t worry so much about tax increases on this, because of the House, but I do worry about the spending increases and other lunacy and mandates that the Senate would pass. They will come out of the Senate for this reason I feel.

So point noted, but don’t forget about all the other things the DFL has on their agenda.

A dedicated reader of Residual Forces sent along the section from the Minnesota Constitution regarding impeachment.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (Sierra Club MN) has driven that last nail in the coffin for his relationship with the principled conservatives in the base, I think, with this little eco-stunt he pulled up in Ely with fringe environutters.

Governor Pawlenty, joined by Amy Klobuchar and explorer Will Steger, was in Ely Friday to discuss climate changes and how the state may have to deal with them.

So let’s get this straight. Pawlenty has been spending a lot of time in the last weeks in Iowa and New Hampshire trying to get his pal John McCain elected President, avoiding any contact with the SD25 special election that he decided to call. Maybe he should get a ‘Not in the Arena’ award too. And, when he does grace the state with his precence he is doing appearances with Democrat Amy Klobuchar and environutters helping solidify Al Gore’s war against prosperity.In the Strib’s version, you get to see the nuttiness straight up.

“With a doubling of [carbon dioxide], our forests will shift 200 to 400 miles northward,” University of Minnesota forest ecologist Lee Frelich told about 250 people who crowded into the auditorium at Vermilion Community College. “There would be a tsunami of grass from the west. Minnesota would end up without much forest at all.”

Isn’t global warming based on the theory that the Earth is turning into a green house where carbon dioxide is increasing? Don’t plants thrive on Carbon Dioxide, hence that’s why they have them in green houses? And that brings me back to what I was taught in school. Trees used to be all the craze for the Mother-huggers. They used to claim that if we just planted more trees…. everything was gonna be alright. But then it was prairie grasses that were considered, by scientists, as a better was to absorb the Carbon Dioxide and turn it into Oxygen to save the world. In the end, the entire global warming religion is based on destroying the American way of life.And if you didn’t know, Minnesota has had many faces over the years. We used to be buried under glaciers. Go figure, the Earth is changing, and will change no matter what we mere humans do.

The gathering was the first of several Pawlenty and Steger have agreed to host statewide, focusing mostly on the potential local effects of climate change. The Republican governor and the dog-sledding adventurer joined forces last fall on the issue, with Pawlenty declaring it “one of the most important issues of our time.”

That would be one of the biggest manufactured hoaxes simply to destroy our capitalist system and squash freedom under government regulation of our time.

Minnesota should seize the chance to benefit economically from solutions, Pawlenty said, creating “green collar” jobs.

That’s a pretty good example of why he has earned the name Governor Green Jeans with conservatives.

“Finally we’re waking up to the fact that global warming is real, as evidenced by the audience here today,” Steger told the gathering in his hometown of 3,500 people, where “eco-tourism” is a pillar of the economy.

(dumbfounded)

“We’ve brought the world everything from the Post-it note to the pacemaker,” Klobuchar said. “I see this as our next major challenge.”

She still can’t let that silly campaign line go…. a campaign line that helped defeat Pawlenty’s fellow Republican Mark Kennedy. I wonder if the same party leaders and operatives who were livid over Kennedy’s endorsement of Lieberman are upset over Pawlenty’s decision to cozy up to the liberal Democratic freshman Senator?  (or how Sen. Lieberman endorsed Pawlenty’s other friend, John McCain) But that would require them to not be hypocrites, hence, us conservatives are the problem. 

Ely wilderness outfitter Steve Piragis, citing the wind storm that mowed downed millions of trees in the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness a few years ago and has contributed to major forest fires, said the potential problems from climate change outweigh any potential advantages, such as longer summers.“Can we afford to say the blowdown wasn’t related to climate change?” Piragis said. “I don’t think so.”

That’s right. Pawlenty is joining with a guy who is blaming a storm on man. It can only lead one like me, with principles, to wonder just what the heck happened to the Governor. He is now virtually spitting in the face of his own party, and he has no regrets.

Pawlenty said that in the absence of strong national leadership, action by individual states, combined with multistate compacts, have the potential to become “de facto national policy.”

And that is where it gets very scary. Pawlenty doesn’t just believe the Al Gore hype, he isn’t just paying it lip service to be a populist. He is going to abuse his power to act on it through Government regulation and mandates.

Pawlenty said he still hopes, schedule permitting, to rendezvous with Steger during the explorer’s planned trip to the Canadian Arctic this spring to see the shrinking ice floes that demonstrate the effects of climate change in that region.

And here’s the test for Republicans at all levels. How much longer is it going to be before someone throws Pawlenty off the conservative island or at least fires a few rhetorical warning shots over his bow for abandoning the people who got him where he is? Seriously, this man will destroy the Republican party in Minnesota unless he is stopped. Unfortunately, the people in charge of the Republican party are…. are ….. well, I guess they are perfectly fine with it. 

So I guess all that great work to get rid of Sen. Dean Johnson was a waste.

I just had an email from Brian Sullivan arrive an hour or so ago.

Dear Friends,

When Jim Ramstad announced his decision not to run for re-election as the Third District Congressman, I received many calls encouraging me to seek the Republican nomination, and I agreed to consider doing so.  I appreciate the trust many of you have shown in me by asking me to get into this race.  It would be an honor to serve the Third District as its Representative in the U.S. Congress.    However, the timing is not right for my family or me.  As a result, I have decided not to enter the race to replace Jim Ramstad as Minnesota’s Third District Congressman.

Mia and I had a third daughter this past April, and I acquired another business in May.  It is simply not possible for me to disengage from either my family or my businesses at this time to run for this office.   I will continue to serve as Minnesota’s Republican National Committeeman, and I will work hard to elect a Republican Congressman in the Third District.

Jim Ramstad has served our state and our country well these past 17 years as our Third District Congressman.  He deserves our gratitude for his selfless commitment to public service.   Our family wishes him all the best.

Best Regards,

Brian

It was a retry email for it to get to me with a special note. Seems the first one got bounced back earlier in the day.

Anyways, Brian Sullivan is out of the 3rd CD sprint, as you’ve no doubt heard or seen elsewhere.

I think that is for the best. I think conservatives in Minnesota have Mr. Sullivan right where we truly need him (until 2010…. just saying……). He’s on the Republican Party State Executive Committee as well as a representative to the RNC. I have a good feeling he’s holding people accountable and making sure the party has a strong conservative advocate in both places.