‘Get back to work,’ Pawlenty says

"MN Governor"

05/24/2005

Patricia Lopez, Star Tribune
May 24, 2005

Having failed for the third year in a row to complete their business on time, legislators ended their regular session at midnight Monday without agreeing how to fund most of the upcoming state budget.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty summoned legislators to an immediate special session, which began a minute after the end of the regular session. Its first meeting lasted barely 15 minutes.

“Our message is, ‘Get back to work and finish your job,’ “ Pawlenty said Monday afternoon.

But little happened beyond procedural housekeeping in the special session, which has no formal deadline for completion of its work except a looming June 30 shutdown of some government functions.

And even the housekeeping didn’t go harmoniously. The House will return at noon Thursday, the Senate at 9 a.m. Friday. In addition, the two bodies were unable to agree on a date to begin the 2006 regular session, leaving that question in a legal morass.

Meanwhile, some Republican legislators fretted openly about the prospect of a “runaway” special session. That’s because while only the governor can call a special session, only legislators can agree to end one.

“I don’t know if it was the most wise decision,” House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, said Monday night. “Once a [special] session is called, it has its own life. I have significant concerns about a runaway session. But the governor has called, and I support him. The House will be here.”

The GOP-led House and DFL-controlled Senate remained miles apart Monday night on matters large and small, from the $1.3 billion that separates them on competing budget proposals for schools, health and human services to an eight-day difference on when to start the 2006 legislative session. The Senate resolved to convene on Feb. 28, 2006, the House on March 8.

“It does not set a very good tone,” said Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar. House Republican leaders said the resolution may come in a special session in January.

Sviggum said the current special session could creep on at least until June 30, when most of the state’s existing budget authority expires. But even then, parts of state government would not shut down. That’s because some major bills, including bonding, higher education, state government finance and public safety, already have been passed.

But the bills furthest from agreement are also the largest: K-12 schools and health and human services, which together account for nearly 70 percent of state spending. Also outstanding is the tax bill, where the DFL-controlled Senate is pushing for an income tax increase on the state’s wealthiest 3 percent.

A DFL counteroffer

Pawlenty said Monday he was “very disappointed” that his attempt to bridge the partisan divide—an offer Friday of a 75-cent-per-pack cigarette fee that would generate another $380 million—had fallen so flat.

“I was willing to put my neck out pretty far on the chopping block,” he said. As a candidate, Pawlenty pledged not to raise statewide taxes, and his offer has sparked accusations that he broke his promise.

Pawlenty dismissed the DFL Senate counteroffer tendered Monday morning as little more than “repackaging.”

Johnson said that “now is the time to compromise,” but gave no indication when such a compromise might be reached. Senate DFLers, he said, wanted an “orderly end” to the session.

On Monday morning Johnson sent Pawlenty a letter outlining an eight-point counteroffer that would have required adoption of a bare-bones, “lights-on” bill that would fund state government past June 30.

That, Pawlenty said, is “planning for failure, it seems.”

But his decision to call an immediate special session was greeted by members of his own party as a less-than-successful strategy.

“I think it’s ill-conceived,” said Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, a 10-year veteran and an assistant majority leader. “This might wind up being to the Senate’s advantage for all I know. Where is the impetus for them to stop?”

Pressures and stress

Johnson said he was considering allowing most senators to go home until after Memorial Day while leaders stay to work out differences. To adjourn for longer than three days would require the consent of the House, and Sviggum was quick to quash that notion. “That would send the wrong message,” he said. “The governor wants us to stay here and work.”

But Sviggum acknowledged that without a breakthrough agreement on education, health care and funding there would be little for lawmakers to do.

And with widespread grumbling within his own caucus, Sviggum said that he was not sure he had the votes to defeat a move to recess until after Memorial Day or even later.

Pawlenty said he was aware of the arguments against an immediate special session but said he was more concerned about maintaining pressure on lawmakers to reach agreement. “If you let everyone drift,” he said, “it becomes easier to become disassociated from the pressures of governing.”

Meanwhile, DFLers praised the governor’s decision.

“We might as well stay and get it done as quickly as possible, as long as it’s balanced,” said House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul.

Pawlenty blamed the session’s failure on Johnson, who the governor said was unwilling to make a decision that might make some in his caucus unhappy.

“You have to break some eggs to make an omelet,” Pawlenty said. “We need Senator Johnson to break some eggs. That is the responsibility and risk of leadership.”

Johnson responded that Pawlenty was “clearly under some stress.” Johnson said his own style was based on “building consensus.”

The time would come for tough decisions, he said, “but that time is not now.”