It'll be the Eagles versus the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but the big game at the Capitol this week will be the beginning of the budget debate. Gov. Pawlenty releases his plan on Tuesday. The big question is how he fixes the $700 million (or $1.4 billion counting inflation) shortfall without raising taxes. Pawlenty has already proposed spending another $300 million over the next two years on k-12 education, so that makes a $1 billion problem the governor has to fix. Pawlenty has zeroed in on health care, and we'll have more on that tomorrow.

Patrick Condon of the Associated Press took a look at some possible long term budget fixes in this story over the weekend:

As another round of cuts loom, it's tantalizing to consider the more stable funding that tax reform could bring. The state's reliance on the personal income tax and the sales tax on discretionary purchases makes it more vulnerable to economic booms and busts, experts say.

Recently, Sen. Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, said he re-read a 1986 tax study
led by then-St. Paul Mayor George Latimer. It aimed to make the
state's cash sources more predictable. Among its recommendations
was to tax clothing purchases, but the idea was rapidly abandoned.

"I'm not necessarily speaking as a proponent, but it would stabilize your tax revenues moreso than a reliance on income taxes," Johnson said.

Latimer, now a professor at Macalester College, said he thinks the public view of the issue might be shifting as they see what recent budget deficits have wrought in spending on education, health care and other state services.

"Even back then and as a Democrat, I never thought taxing clothing was nearly as unthinkable as tradition had it," Latimer said. A corresponding income tax credit could offset the hit on lower wage earners, he said.

Majority Republicans in the House get skeptical when Democrats talk about tax reform.

"A lot of people have different definitions of tax reform," said Rep. Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "For some people I think it means tax increases, and we're not going down that road."

Condon concludes that no long term fix is likely this year. Even with no word quite yet on the budget, the Senate is sprinting to pass a bonding bill. MPR's Laura McCallum has this item:

The Senate is expected to vote Monday on a capital investment bill totaling more than a $1 billion.

The so-called bonding bill would authorize the state to borrow money for about $975 million worth of higher education, transportation, environmental and other public works projects. The rest would come from higher education institutions.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Keith Langseth, DFL- Glyndon, said the Senate should pass the bill quickly to create jobs.

"We've still got unemployment in the construction fields, and getting people to work, and keeping them working all the summer and through the winter is very important," he said.

Lawmakers failed to agree on a bonding bill last session. Senate Republican Leader Dick Day said he thinks the bill is too large, but says many of his caucus members will vote for it.

He said the public is telling lawmakers to compromise and get their work done. Republican House Speaker Steve Sviggum said the House bill will be ready by mid-February, and will be smaller than the Senate proposal.

The Star Tribune takes a look at campaign financing, specifically those 527 groups:

More than three dozen 527 groups spent at least $4.2 million in Minnesota before the 2004 election -- twice as much as they spent in the 2002 cycle -- according to a summary prepared for the Star Tribune by the Center for Public Integrity. And that total probably is an undercount. The biggest national 527 of all, America Coming Together, spent an estimated $4 million in Minnesota, but it did so indirectly through its national political action committee.

Controversy over the explosive growth of 527s was one of the major sideshows of the last election. It became especially sharp in Minnesota in December, when the national 21st Century Democrats was penalized more than $300,000 for failing to disclose its donors to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. It is believed to be one of the largest penalties assessed by any state so far against national 527s.

Rivers of money from 527 groups flowed virtually unchecked into all states, and the phenomenon is provoking a call for more inquiry and perhaps more legislation to regulate their activities. Everybody involved seems to agree that the laws pertaining to 527s are complex, even bewildering.

The bottom line of the story is that government reform types are worried and that the groups themselves think the 527s are getting more people involved in grass roots politics. Most seem to agree that the rules need to be clearer and better enforced.

Finally the AP is reporting that funeral services are pending for the wife
of Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson. Avonelle Johnson had battled cancer for five years and was 60 years old. She died early Monday at a Willmar nursing home with her husband at her side.