The biggest infrastructure in the history of Minnesota happened more than a month ago and Governor Pawlenty has yet to take the first, most basic, step towards constructive progress: calling the legislature into session. If he thinks people won’t notice, he’s wrong. The DFL issued this press release yesterday (in its entirety below the fold):
DFL Party Calls on Governor to Keep All Options on Table for a Special Session and Stop Playing Politics with Minnesotans’ Needs
St. Paul, MN (September 6, 2007) The Minnesota DFL Party called on Governor Pawlenty again today to put aside politics and call a special session with every option on the table, including comprehensive transportation funding, flood relief for southeastern Minnesota, a bonding bill and property-tax relief for Minnesota homeowners.
Governor Pawlenty declared his desire for a special session to deal with transportation shortly after the 35W bridge collapsed. But more than five weeks later, and more than two weeks after devastating floods ravaged southeastern Minnesota, Pawlenty still will not call a special session.
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Governor Pawlenty: Get Off Your Hands and Get the Job Done
DFL Party Calls on Governor to Keep All Options on Table for a Special Session and Stop Playing Politics with Minnesotans’ Needs
St. Paul, MN (September 6, 2007) The Minnesota DFL Party called on Governor Pawlenty again today to put aside politics and call a special session with every option on the table, including comprehensive transportation funding, flood relief for southeastern Minnesota, a bonding bill and property-tax relief for Minnesota homeowners.
Governor Pawlenty declared his desire for a special session to deal with transportation shortly after the 35W bridge collapsed. But more than five weeks later, and more than two weeks after devastating floods ravaged southeastern Minnesota, Pawlenty still will not call a special session.
“We Minnesotans have always been there for each other. We have always pulled together when times got rough, like when our bridge fell and when southeastern Minnesota flooded. As we face these problems as a state, we need all options on the table so that the search for solutions can travel the broadest possible path,” said DFL Chair Brian Melendez.
“Governor Pawlenty talks a good game, but so far he’s all talk. Only the governor can call a special session, but this governor is a roadblock,” continued Melendez. “We can’t take Tim Pawlenty seriously when he talks out of both sides of his mouth — talking about support for our roads and bridges, talking about additional flood relief, talking about property-tax relief, but then sitting on his hands and not taking the action that only he can take in order to get our state moving forward.”
“You can see true leadership when our elected officials put politics aside and rise to the occasion. But once again, Governor Pawlenty is playing politics instead of governing. Get off your hands, Governor, and get the job done.”
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Chair Brian Melendez, Associate Chair Donna Cassutt
255 East Plato Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55107 www.dfl.org
Phone: (651) 293-1200 Toll Free: (800) 999-7457 Fax: (651) 251-6325
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So if the Governor is supposed to keep ‘all options on the table’ then why did our wimpy DFL leadership send the ‘OK, no gas tax’ letter a few days ago?
Was it just a preview of another session of bending to the oh-so-mighty will of T-paw?
Lets hope our DFLers grow some spine before the session starts.
Why no gas tax?
Because it’s an ideal ‘conservative’ funding mechanism (it is both regressive and use-ased), and because the governor was demanding a permanant cut in the income tax (an ideal ‘liberal’ funding mechanism as it is progressive) in exchange for a temporary gas tax increase.
A substantial increase in the gas tax would be the best way to reduce our overconsumption of transportation and the oil we use as fuel. Raise it enough so it would be the only source of funding for roads and many of the problems many Liberals talk about with sprawl, environmental damage, mass transit viability and business paying “their share” would be reduced greatly.
Subsidizing wasteful behavior for everybody because it is not a “progressive” tax is destructive. We need to be more efficient rather than waste millions on ethanol to make driving cheaper. Nobody that voted for ethanol subsidies has much standing when it comes to transportation funding.
Too bad for so many years the DFL in this state did what they could to not build roads to try and hold back urban sprawl.
The whole veto fo the transportation bill is nothing more than smoke and mirrors for the DFL! Do you really believe the DFL of this state is interested in building more roads?
You know as well as I do the first thing they will do is take funds for mass transit, then fix a few bridges to make the effort look good and then cry to us all again how there is not enough money.
I say stop all funding of mass transit now until roads and bridges are where they should be. So far all mass transiit has done here in move a few people a few miles at a time and make traffic even worse. We built a train line that we already had busses working the same line. Now, we have a bus or train option for certain areas and all we did was move a few people from the bus to the train.
We have very poor leadership in this state when it come to roads and bridges. The DFL has sold it’s soul to mass tranist fans so they will never let a bill go through for “just roads and bridges”, they will try to add pork transit projects every single time!
We need roads and transit. Anyone who says “roads only” is the answer is hanging out with this guy…. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/19/politics/main2953001.shtml
can we stop using smilies?
I’ve just come across the most reasonable compromise I’ve read yet. T-Paw will call the session when:
A) The Democrats sign a document agreeing to limit the session to rebuilding the bridge and flood relief.
B) Larry Pogemiller stands on a table and barks like a dog.
I want to know why the hell I have to pay for someone else to rebuild after a flood when I don’t live anywhere near a creek/river/lake/pond. When did the government (me) have to start taking care of people who should be taking care of themselves? Same for hurricanes/tornadoes/you name it. That’s not in the constitution. I bet when our ancestors were going west in covered wagons, if they got stuck in the river, they were just s.o.l. - no government bailout. Even Republicans seem to buy into the fact that its the job of the state and federal governments to give money or loans to rebuild.