Residual Forces

Here’s my very brief initial impressions of a speech given by Governor Pawlenty this lunch hour to the Elephant Club.

Oh SH&@! I think he just implied that we are going to spend a boat load of money next year.

I’m going to let this simmer while I try to get some work done this afternoon, but I am not at all excited about what I think were the Governor’s parting words.

I’ll post tonight on this one. This may be a WiFi bar kinda post.

Developing …

Updated
I’ve been trying to get my thoughts together on this one, but it is tough. There was just a feeling I got listening to the Governor that the conservatives in Minnesota will be disappointed with the upcoming legislative session.

One of the things that was surprising was how he mentioned his recent interview in which he said that Republicans are on the ropes. He defended his statements, saying that he really does feel that way. He said that he feels Minnesota is not a Republican state. It is trending that way, but it is not there yet. He brought up how both Bush and Kerry threw everything they had into the last election. Both of them campaigned harder in this state than any Presidential candidates had done ever before, but in the end, it ended up being a 4% margin for Kerry. In fact that was a wider margin than in 2000 with Gore.

He went on to explain that Republicans in this state go into each election down 4%, basically. He mentioned a race in Bemidji last election in which a Republican got more votes than any Republican had done before, but he still lost. Pawlenty said that he was told that there were no more Republicans in Bemidji. He left the impression that he feels this is the case more often than not in Minnesota, that Republican voters are outnumbered by Democrats.

I do not totally agree with the Governor on this. It may be true is some areas, but if 2002 is any kind of an example, Republicans can win all over the state.

The rest of the speech was filled with much doom and gloom. He did, once again, say that people could call the Health Impact Fee (HIUF) a Tax. He gave reasons for his proposing it that some people like David Strom of the Taxpayer’s League (who was in attendance) thought were not exactly the real story. Pawlenty brought up that the DFL came into the session loaded for bear with $1.6 billion dollars in new spending all paid for with brand new taxes that would have been devastating for Minnesotans. Through a heated regular session, special session, and first ever government shut down in Minnesota’s history the Republicans held off the DFL’s demands for higher and new taxes. The HIUF and Racino were counter offers to broker a peace and get people back to work. Pawlenty gave the impression that the HIUF was a final hour proposal, but Strom and others in attendance mentioned that it was proposed weeks earlier.

Pawlenty did go over the accomplishments of the Republicans, 10,000 fewer state workers drawing on the general fund, parental notification, abolishment of “Dept of Happy Thoughts (now Dept of Ed), introduction to performance based teachers pay, personal protection act, among others. But once again, the overriding tone of the speech was doom and gloom.

Pawlenty ended the speech portion of his address in a call for unification and hard work by those in the room. He brought up the 3 main factions of the Republicans: the fiscal conservatives, the pro-lifers, and the reformers. By his own admission, the fiscal Republicans were ill served while the others were pleased.

Pawlenty then took a couple questions, the first of which was a riot. I’m leaving the name out of it, but a long time Republican fundraiser and donor asked something along these lines.

“Why don’t you and the Republican party soften its mean message about forcing women to go through with an unwanted pregnancy and refusing to let same sex people marry so that we could get more Republicans elected?”

The second part is probably not correct as I was laughing through that portion as I thought the question was a joke. I was wrong. Pawlenty did a fantastic job of politely pointing out that there is a party that does stand for such things, and if the Republicans did not point out the differences between them and the DFL, few would be able to tell. He did a good job, again politely, bringing up how about 60% of the public supports bans on partial birth abortions and redefining marriage as one man and one woman.

We had all forgotten the doom with some internal laughter.

There was another question along the lines of spending and fiscal conservatism. During this is where I got the rather ill feeling again. Pawlenty had earlier gone through how great the quality of life in Minnesota is, and a major cause to that was our higher than average amenities and programs. Mayo, U of M, 3M, etc. The big recipients of Government aid. It is a fact that with out them, our state would be as the Governor put it, Arkansas. We are the only Midwest state that does not face a dwindling population, and that is because we have stuff here to do. Entrepreneurs come to Mayo or on business trips, and end up liking the place. They also build businesses and create jobs.

In order to continue that streak, Pawlenty says that we will need to find the balance of providing such amenities (i.e. government spending) and paying for it (i.e. taxes). If we can continue to get people to come to Minnesota and see for their own eyes that we are not just a cold dark place with nothing to do, they will stay and in turn create jobs and further economic growth.

Okay, I think just about everyone agrees with that. But Pawlenty then took a shot at David Strom and Mike Wigley. Pawlenty said that he could not fight a 3 front war next year and be reelected. He couldn’t fight the moderate (i.e. Liberal) Republicans on marriage and abortion, the fiscal conservatives, and the Democrats.

This was the very end, and a building theme of the speech was how great Minnesota is, and that Pawlenty wanted to continue down that path. Meaning more spending on “fun stuff”. He even asked that the people in that room personally sacrifice for it (excuse me, that sounds Mondale-esk).

I got the feeling that this was the point at which Pawlenty was asking for the fiscal conservatives to shut up and let him get reelected. That we should expect more of the same, and that we had better like it or else we’d get a DFLer who everybody knows will tax our arses off.

As Pawlenty departed, I think most of us were rather shell shocked. I myself kind of wondered why Pawlenty gave this address to this group. The Elephant Club is the big money of the party. But they are also some of the most fiscally conservative of the party too. But he chose this group to sit down and draw the line with.

I think that this speech would have been a fantastic State of the State address, or maybe a bi-partisan campaign speech. It would have done a terrific job of galvanizing some of those moderates and “lean” Republicans solidly to our side, while proving the point that most Republicans don’t seek an end to all government spending to the thoughtful liberal DFLers who can actually engage in political debate. But instead he gave this speech to the fuel that feeds the activist fire, the money.

These are just my opinions. I don’t think there were any other bloggers in attendance. As soon as the Forum Saturday is over, I am going to try to follow up with some of the people that were there to get their thoughts. Chairman Carey was there and I’d love to get a chance to hear his thoughts. (Side note he really appreciates the bloggers support in the Auticism Center Investigation - Doug, Anti-Strib, & Captain FishSticks)