Conditions for special session rankle some

09/29/2005

Pat Doyle,
Star Tribune
September 29, 2005

Fears that legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Pawlenty will forge a deal to finance one or more sports stadiums with little input from the public or rank-and-file legislators triggered criticism Wednesday of the governor’s conditions for calling a special session this fall.

“If we’re going to have confidence in government ... the public has to have an opportunity to weigh in,” said Sen. Jane Ranum, DFL-Minneapolis.

Sen. Bill Belanger, R-Bloomington, said each legislator “represents a segment of that public, and if the public looks at us - the people that they send here - and thinks we’re getting cut out of the action, they’ll react negatively.”

House Speaker Steve Sviggum, one of the top legislative leaders, pledged Wednesday that citizens and back-bench legislators alike would have an opportunity in committee hearings before any special session to debate items on the agenda and help shape the bills to be considered in a special session.

“I would insist on the public being involved in committee meetings,” said Sviggum, R-Kenyon.

The governor also wants legislative committee hearings before a special session is held, said Brian McClung, his press secretary.

But a letter that Pawlenty sent this week to legislative leaders seems to leave little leeway for shaping bills in a committee or once a special session is underway. The governor sought “certification by legislative leaders that the votes exist in their respective chambers to not only pass the bills agreed upon, but also a demonstration of the votes necessary to overcome procedural motions or tactics to change the agreement reached by legislative leaders.”

McClung said: “What’s in the bill would be agreed to in advance, and that’s how the legislation would proceed.”

Pawlenty asked Sviggum and Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Dick Day and House Minority Leader Matt Entenza to pick from a “menu” of 11 possible items for a special session agenda. They include new stadiums proposed by the Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Vikings and University of Minnesota Gophers; rescuing the financially ailing Minneapolis teachers pension fund, and a new hospital for Maple Grove.

On Wednesday, Entenza rejected the agenda and conditions offered by Pawlenty and instead suggested that they meet to discuss the possibility of a special session this year.

Minneapolis City Council Member Gary Schiff, who opposes public financing for a Twins stadium as proposed in the team’s agreement with Hennepin County, said the terms set down for a special session “sound like the governor is changing the rules of the game to where he’s more comfortable, to more closed-door negotiations.”

McClung said Pawlenty is merely offering to consider a special session on issues where there is a consensus among legislators. And he said there would be plenty of opportunity for public input in the runup to any special session.

“We believe this could be put together in a way to ensure that there’s opportunity for all sides to be heard on these issues,” McClung said.