Pawlenty in line to lead governors

08/05/2006

The governor, if reelected this fall, will become chairman of the influential National Governors Association next summer.

Dane Smith, Star Tribune
Last update: August 04, 2006 – 1:08 AM

When Gov. Tim Pawlenty returns from the National Governors Association meeting in Charleston, S.C., early next week, he will be the group’s new vice chairman and in line to become chairman of the influential 50-member club next summer.

He would be only the second Minnesota governor, and the first since Republican Harold Stassen in 1941, to head the group in its 100-year history.

Many NGA chairpersons in the past 25 years have gone on to national leadership positions, and the job typically brings a lot of national media exposure. The list of ex-chairpersons includes former President Bill Clinton, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, and a half-dozen other present and former Cabinet secretaries.

“This is a wonderful opportunity,” Pawlenty said. “We have so many things that are on the cutting edge here in Minnesota, and we can use this as a platform to showcase Minnesota ideas and bring them national ... I’m really looking forward to it.”

First, however, Pawlenty must win reelection this fall and that’s hardly a cinch. Polls show that he is virtually tied with Attorney General Mike Hatch, the DFL-endorsed candidate, and he also faces a challenge from the Independence Party’s endorsee, Peter Hutchinson.

Both of Pawlenty’s opponents said the NGA job has a downside for Pawlenty.

Hatch said he suspects that Pawlenty got the nod because his Republican colleagues, who tapped him for the post in a meeting earlier this year, know he’s one of their most vulnerable incumbents. “Usually what they do is if you are in a tight race, they will give you a position to boost you,” Hatch said.

Pawlenty said of Hatch’s theory: The “facts don’t support it,” and he added that the past four chairs have either not sought reelection or did not face strong challenges.

Hutchinson said that taking the new job is another sign that Pawlenty has national ambitions and won’t be sufficiently focused on Minnesota in his second term.

“That’s fine that he wants to be a national player,” Hutchinson said. “But we’ve got full-time problems in this state and we need a full-time governor.”

Theme issue not decided

Pawlenty brushed aside the notion that his new post is part of a grander ambition. “It is a real honor but I don’t want to view it with any other motive or agenda,” he said.

The group’s executive director, Ray Scheppach, also discounted politics as a factor in Pawlenty’s ascension.

Pawlenty is widely respected among governors in both parties as “a very bright guy who has a lot of different intellectual interests in public policy issues across the board,” Scheppach said.

One of the key roles of the chairperson is public advocacy, and chairpersons are expected to deal frequently with the media at often highly visible NGA meetings, as well as testify before Congress.

Under the NGA tradition, the chairmanship alternates between Republicans and Democrats every year. Pawlenty’s 27 GOP colleagues chose him in a meeting last spring to follow Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, who takes over this month from Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. That choice will be officially confirmed at Monday’s meeting.

Another tradition gives the chairperson a showcase issue to highlight during his year in office. Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, chairman in 2004-05, currently a contender for the 2008 presidential nomination, picked as his policy priority the redesign of the American high school.

Huckabee, who lost more than 100 pounds of excess weight since he took office, chose fitness and health as his theme. Huckabee recently visited Minnesota and accompanied Pawlenty to a St. Paul YMCA, where they led children in an exercise routine.

Pawlenty said that he isn’t sure what his policy theme will be and that he won’t announce one unless and until he becomes chairman.

But the choice can have significant effects on governors and policy priorities in the rest of the country.

Warner’s pitch for a top-to-bottom restructuring of the nation’s high school model is something Pawlenty has picked up on. He talks about it in many speeches on the campaign trail, and he has earmarked high school reform as a top goal for his second term.