Chastened legislators seek change
02/12/2006
After two Capitol meltdowns, state legislators are talking across party lines and working on ways to spur civility and compromise.
Conrad Defiebre, Star Tribune
Last update: February 11, 2006 – 11:16 PM
Haunted by ghosts of gridlock, shutdown and lobbyist scandals, Minnesota legislators are searching their souls as perhaps never before for ways to improve their performance at the State Capitol.
In the last week, at least three bipartisan groups were working on proposals to spur the Legislature toward civility and compromise. Meanwhile, individual legislators of distant points on the political spectrum are urging steps to minimize the influence of special interests.
There’s evidence that many legislators, perhaps from a sense of self-preservation as elections loom in November, are as disgusted with the status quo as the voting public. In a survey of House members conducted by two of their colleagues, 80 percent of respondents rejected the option to “do nothing different.”
Last week, dozens of DFL and Republican legislators spent two days at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute hashing out reform ideas in an unofficial workshop sponsored by public policy groups.
And next week, the Center of the American Experiment will issue legislative reform recommendations.
The recommendations will come from a task force cochaired by former leaders of both dominant political parties.
Even top legislative leaders are pushing for reforms, although House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, acknowledged that public skepticism about whether much will come of it “probably is fair. But unless we try to change things, we never will. We will try.”
Tough challenge
Sen. Sheila Kiscaden, DFL-Rochester, who helped lead reform talks at the Humphrey Institute for the second year, said the 2005 gathering had a positive effect, even though partisan bickering in last year’s session led to a budget impasse and an eight-day government shutdown.
“The seeds for change were sown then,” she said, adding that bipartisan legislative “rump groups” inspired by the Humphrey meetings “helped bring the leadership to closure” of the special session.
According to Alan Rosenthal, a Rutgers University professor of public policy who addressed the Humphrey and American Experiment groups, the Minnesota Legislature is not alone in its dysfunction. “What’s different about Minnesota is that there are a lot of legislators who want to do something about it,” he said.
Reining in partisan conflict won’t be easy, Rosenthal said. “The stakes are higher these days. There are more interests that are more demanding. Today the campaign never ends.”
Special interests targeted
A few reform-minded legislators would extend the cease-fire to new limits on campaign contributions by lobbyists. Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, urges outlawing campaign donations by lobbyists and political action committees during special legislative sessions; they are forbidden only during regular sessions now.
Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, wants to prohibit all lobbyist donations, an option that hasn’t been tried in any state and probably won’t be here. But he calls the current system “bizarre,” likening it to the NFL allowing teams to bribe referees.
A similar Marty reform enacted in the 1990s—banning lobbyist gifts and entertainment for public officials—is widely blamed for the Legislature’s woes because it eliminated receptions where legislators ate and drank together.
But observers such as Rosenthal say socializing across the aisle has declined everywhere because of factors such as growing partisan zeal and legislators’ modern lifestyles. “They drink less, engage in solitary pursuits—jogging instead of poker—and are not nearly as convivial as the old-timers,” Rosenthal said.
In the hope that familiarity would breed less contempt, many legislators want more fraternization with the enemy. Suggestions include a loosening of the Marty gift ban, joint House-Senate committees where DFLers and Republicans would sit together rather than glare across a table, bipartisan training and bus trips, even a hearing-free lunch hour for informal mingling.
A broad consensus is forming for “continuing appropriations” that would keep government in business even amid a budget impasse.
Sviggum prefers Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s plan to dock the pay of legislators and the governor if they don’t produce a budget on time. Sviggum also is promoting a proposal that got broad support in the House poll: staggered elections for senators, on the theory that if half the Senate faced the voters every two years, “do-nothing” sessions wouldn’t recur.