Capitol View: December 19, 2008 Archive

Franken takes lead, board rejects Coleman plea

Posted at 9:42 AM on December 19, 2008 by Tom Scheck

As expected, Al Franken took his first lead in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race but there are still hundreds, if not thousands of withdrawn challenges that need to be allocated.

Meanwhile, the state canvassing board rejected a plea by Norm Coleman's attorney to look into an issue where Coleman's campaign suggested double counting could have occurred. The board said it wasn't the role of the canvassing board to look into the matter.

MPR's News Cut is live blogging the event.

Pawlenty targest LGA, Human Services and Higher Ed.

Posted at 2:20 PM on December 19, 2008 by Tom Scheck

Governor Pawlenty plans to cut aid to local government, higher education, human services and other programs to make up the state's short term deficit. Pawlenty used his emergency powers to drain the state's reserve funds of $155 million and cut $271 million in spending to eliminate the short-term budget deficit of $426 million. The plan includes $110 million in cuts for cities and counties but spares smaller counties and cities with populations of one thousand people or less. Pawlenty said he tried to spare any one group of major pain.

"The deficit for the current biennium has to be resolved. Unlike the federal government, the state of Minnesota cannot deficit spend. We cannot print monopoly money in the basement. The books have to balance. That's a constitutional requirement. When any deficit opens up in Minnesota's finances, it needs to be addressed promptly and directly and aggressively and that's what these unallotments do."

Pawlenty's plan also cuts $73 million in Human Services spending, $40 million allocated to the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. This will be the first of many tough budget decisions for Pawlenty and the Legislature. Finance officials expect the short term deficit to grow. The state also faces a $4.8 billion dollar deficit in the two year budget that starts on July first.

DFL Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller issued a statement saying:

"We thought that across-the-board cuts would be a fair solution. The governor's cuts fall harder on cities and counties across the state and could hurt police and fire protection. We look forward to working with the governor to find the best possible solution to fixing this historic deficit."

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman issued a news release after the cuts. Here's part of it:

Today's cuts cannot be a sign of what's to come for cities as the budget process moves forward. Saint Paul has absorbed more than $121 million in cuts since 2003, and we've responded by making tough choices, restructuring departments, modernizing service delivery, and changing the way our City does business. We have been able to do all of this while making new investments in critical public safety and foreclosure prevention initiatives. Any further cuts in local aid will erase all of this progress and diminish the quality of services in a time when our residents need them the most."

The City of Saint Paul has taken aggressive action to address continuing revenue cuts. In recent years the Mayor and City Council have worked to reduce costs by merging departments, conducting cost saving efficiency audits, and restructuring services to provide residents better service at a better price.

In response to the State's announcement, the Mayor has asked all departments in the City to begin plans for a 20 percent budget reduction, and has placed new spending in the 2009 budget into contingency until State decisions are made on Local Government Aid.

Pawlenty on the possibility of filling the Senate seat

Posted at 3:11 PM on December 19, 2008 by Tom Scheck

Gov. Pawlenty was asked about the report that his office has begun "looking into ... what might trigger the need for a gubernatorial appointment to the U.S. Senate."

During a news conference, Pawlenty said this about the possibility of him appointing someone to fill the Senate seat:

"I hope that's not necessary. I still think it is unlikely that there would be a long term vacancy or an intermediate term vacancy in that seat such that the appointment wouldn't even be necessary. I continue to believe that and that's the assumption that we're operating under that it's unlikely and wouldn't even be needed.."

When asked specifically what his office has done, Pawlenty said this:

"All that we have done is begin to look at the law so that if it became necessary, and it would only be a temporary appointment - I don't want anybody to think that it would be more than the limited time until we got the recount done. We're just looking at the laws to see how you do it so we don't get caught flat footed if it becomes necessary."