The power of one: Albert Lea’s Dan Dorman

03/19/2005

Patricia Lopez, Star Tribune
March 19, 2005


A single legislator, a moderate Republican from Albert Lea named Dan Dorman, has emerged as a solitary power broker holding the fate of the 2005 session in his hands.

Saying that Gov. Tim Pawlenty is being too rigid and too stingy on both the bonding bill and the budget, Dorman, co-chairman of the bonding conference committee, said he would not hold out for the governor’s lower spending position on bonding and would not vote for the budget ceiling his GOP majority caucus is proposing.

Instead, Dorman broke with his caucus and his governor Friday and teamed up with a DFL legislator to promote an additional $750 million spending increase he said should be devoted largely to K-12 education.

With the legislative session half gone, House GOP leaders had been preparing to take a vote next week on a budget resolution that would limit the 2006-07 budget to $29.8 billion, a $2 billion increase over the 2004-05 budget.

But the GOP holds only a one-vote advantage over DFLers—so Dorman by himself could derail the budget resolution vote. House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, acknowledged as much Friday, saying that he would not bring the budget resolution up for a vote if he thought it might not pass.

By coincidence, Dorman holds a controlling interest in the other major work of the session—a bonding bill whose failure to pass last year helped defeat 13 Republican House members. Talks broke down this week when Pawlenty pressured House Republicans to back away from what Dorman said was an informal agreement to cap the bill at $950 million.

Dan McElroy, Pawlenty’s chief of staff, said only that Pawlenty “has suggested a ceiling of $880 million.” That’s a little higher than the initial House proposal for $817 million, but well short of the Senate’s $1 billion bill.

Crossing lines

Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, complained in a Friday news conference that Pawlenty had been leaning on DFL freshman legislators in private visits, linking their support for his state/tribal casino to his support for “certain projects” in the bonding bill.

Dorman, who also turned up at the Johnson news conference, joined in, saying, “I won’t say the governor is twisting arms because the speaker said I can’t say that anymore, so I’ll just say that he [Pawlenty] is ‘educating’ them.”

McElroy said Pawlenty had visited with DFL freshmen “because he wants to get to know them and their priorities. He is not linking any issues.”

Rep. Ann Lenczewski, a Bloomington DFLer who has been an outspoken critic of expanded gambling, said she had met with Pawlenty and encountered no pressure. “I think he’s just trying to build relationships with some moderates,” she said.

Lenczewski said she supports Dorman’s amendment, but she predicted that as many as a half-dozen DFLers might join with House Republicans to defeat the measure. “Some of our members don’t think taxes should be raised either,” she said.

Sviggum said there has been no weakening of the GOP position against new taxes or tax increases, but Dorman said that the issue no longer falls strictly along party lines and that some GOP legislators are feeling the pressure from constituents facing rising property taxes. “Tax increases are a reality,” he said. “It’s just a question of which taxes.” The upshot of Pawlenty’s budget proposal, he said, is higher property taxes.

No surprise

Dorman, a 42-year-old tire dealer whose hulking presence, ready wit and candor have made him a force in the GOP caucus, emerged as a critic of GOP budget-cutting when state funding to outstate cities such as Albert Lea was slashed after the 2003 budget fix.

After the November elections reduced the once-mighty GOP majority, Dorman noted that his caucus would have to “function more as a team” and “put bills together that appeal more to people like me.”

With several Lino Lakes parents and a DFL legislator at his side, Dorman said Friday that Republicans had to reclaim a broader array of options to solve the state’s fiscal problems.

“It’s easy to say no,” he said.

Unlike many legislators, Dorman said he was perfectly willing to say how he would raise the money. “I would expand the sales tax to clothing,” he said. “I think that’s the perfect solution.” Minnesota is one of the few states that does not tax clothing, an exemption that provides the biggest benefit to those who spend the most on their clothing.

In a testament to the power of one in a body that’s split 68 to 66, GOP House leaders by Friday afternoon had already met privately with Dorman.

Sviggum said he offered “encouragement” to Dorman, who Friday morning had said he would not reconvene the bonding conference committee until he got some clarity on the numbers.

Later, Dorman said he has now scheduled a Monday conference committee meeting, but with Sviggum’s permission, will address the caucus first. “I want to ask them for permission to really negotiate,” he said. “If the governor isn’t going to break the logjam I will.”

As for the budget resolution, Dorman said he is not deliberately trying to cross leadership. “I’m not trying to take on anyone,” he said. “Nobody should be surprised at what I’m doing. I haven’t been beating around the bush. I just want us to do what’s right for the state and still get out of here sometime before June.”