News Cut: December 4, 2008 Archive

The really big number

Posted at 11:53 AM on December 4, 2008 by Than Tibbetts (12 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Pawlenty, Politics

So, elected officials of Minnesota, you've got come up with $5.2 billion in additional revenue and/or cuts to balance the state's budget. Where do you start?

Oh, and by the way, your 10 percent down payment on that deficit is due in June, by way of a $436 million shortfall in the current budget session.

If you're a budget nut, here's the PDF of the November financial report.

Inside the report, you'll find this nugget:

Spending projections for FY 2010-11 and FY 2012-13 do not include estimated inflation. Inflation, based on the CPI, is forecast to be 0.2 and 3.1 percent for FY 2010 and FY 2011 respectively. At these levels, the cost of inflation would be $650 million in the next biennium.

Inflation aside, the deficit works out to approximately $1,014 for every Minnesotan (based on 2007 population estimates) and $2,063 for every Minnesota taxpayer.

How do you plan to contribute? Higher health care costs? Higher local property taxes? Denser classrooms?

1:33 p.m.: It seems as though Californians and their $11.2 billion budget deficit have it easy. The Sacramento Bee says every adult in the Golden State needs to pony up $429 to cover the state's shortcomings.

Trivia: Total box office gross of movies in which California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appears: $1,621,940,362
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty: Negligible

1:55 p.m.: The newsroom passes along this press release from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

States, which already have closed $40 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget gaps, face at least an additional $97 billion they must close over the next 18 to 24 months, according to a national report issued today by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Fifteen states are forecasting double-digit gaps in FY 2010. The largest are in Arizona (24.2 percent), New York (20 percent), California (18 percent), Wisconsin (17.2 percent), Minnesota (14.7) and Kansas (14.5 percent).

2:10 p.m.: Pawlenty's plan is starting to take shape. Here's what won't be happening, according to the governor.

• - New taxes
• - A stadium for the Vikings
• - Raising revenue with gambling money
• - Using money from the voter-approved outdoors/arts sales tax amendment to help fill the gap

3:02 p.m.: Gov. Pawlenty is apparently Twittering the budget crisis.

4:02 p.m.: Gov. Pawlenty is apparently not Twittering the budget crisis anymore. More on this here...

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Governor Twitter, President Pawlenty?

Posted at 4:02 PM on December 4, 2008 by Than Tibbetts (6 Comments)
Filed under: Pawlenty, Politics

In the midst of all this budget deficit business, this message popped into the Twitter search for 'deficit':

"Interesting," I thought. I hadn't seen anything about the governor using the short-message service. You, the sharp News Cut reader, need no hint about the significance of 2012. I sort of dismissed the number; we all remember what it was like to have myname1998@hotmail.com accounts, right?

Then I read this Twitterer's bio:

It had to be a fake. Then things... disappeared.

Shortly after receiving an e-mail from Twitter telling me that TimPawlenty2012 was now following me, the account ceased to be. Grab your tinfoil hat.

If this was someone purporting to be Tim Pawlenty, it's highly unlikely that Twitter closed down the account. Support requests are notoriously slow, and fake Twitter personalities exist for many high-profile people. If you're creating a fake Tim Pawlenty, you're likely doing it for the exposure, not to cultivate two dozen followers and close up shop.

The messages are a typical slice of what you might expect out of a communications lackey — success stories, challenge-tackling and politically conscious messages of bipartisanship. If this someone really was Pawlenty, and Pawlenty really was a "potential presidential candidate," it would make sense to test drive a few Web 2.0 tools before ramping up a campaign, especially when the political posturing for potential President 45 has already begun.

Click on the image below to see the full feed, minus one status.

While we can probably assume the account wasn't actually being staffed by Tim Pawlenty himself, if it was someone within the governor's office or political circle, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that this person would have inside knowledge of Pawlenty's political aspirations.

Of course, none of this is really new, but it is news if it's straight from the horse's Twitter.

What do you think, Twitter users? Real or fake?

I'm waiting on a call back from Pawlenty's communications people.

5:07 p.m.: Pawlenty Communications Director Brian McClung responds via email.

Than -

No. Our office is not associated with any such Twitter account.

8:30 p.m.: Twitter Pawlenty wasn't disappeared after all. The account has been moved to twitter.com/TimPawlentyMN. The question remains. Who's office is associated with the Twitter account?

I'm waiting on a message back from TimPawlentyMN.

The person behind the account says he/she is "just someone from Minnesota giving updates on behalf of Tim Pawlenty." Mystery solved then, I guess. At least it was a fun distraction from the budget news.

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