West Wing fans are familiar with the concept of “throwing out news with the garbage.” Its when politicians release bad news on a Friday afternoon in order to limit the fallout. Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Pioneer Press catches T-Paw at the curb.
The rule of thumb among reporters is that if someone has an announcement on a Friday afternoon, it means they are trying to keep the news quiet. That’s because even though newspaper readership tends to be pretty high on Saturdays, Friday evening television newscasts tend to be among the least watched.
With that rule in mind, I was interested to receive the notice this afternoon that Gov. Tim Pawlenty would release his “plan to solve the state’s projected $935 million deficit and balance the budget” at 2:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.
The afternoon timing also makes it difficult for Capitol reporters to dig too deep into the details of the budget plan — many state agency officials leave their desks promptly at 4:30 p.m. — so many questions might have to remain unanswered.
Pawlenty’s spokesman Brian McClung dismissed my thoughts on the subject.
“This is the time when we were able to get everything prepared,” he said.
We see through your shenanigans McClung.
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1) The fact it doesn’t make tonight’s news cycle doesn’t mean the questions / critique vanishes.
2) A bureaucrat could always stick around a little later than 4:30 when there is a big announcement like this.
What else would you EXPECT from Gimmcky Timmy and the Republicans?
It matters not when he announces or what he announcers - you guys will do your best to renounce him anyway.
And the MN Publius solution to the $1B gap is?
I’ll take “what is raise taxes for $100”
Because as we all know it is the responsibility of Bloggists to balance the State Budget and organize solutions. Our Governor is merely a figurehead and doesn’t have the responsibility to lead… ‘cause he is a Republican shill?
Pawlenty was recently elected by a majority of Minnesotan’s in the face of significant Democratic momentum. He most definitely has the responsibility to lead and is doing a good job of trying to control the cost of government.
The best thing that happened to Dem’s is George Bush and Iraq. Better hope that momentum lasts because most Minnesotan’s aren’t in favor of more taxes as the solution to everything.
Say, Moose?
T-Paw took 46.7% of the vote; Hatch took 45.7; and Hutchinson took 6.4%.
So your assertion that “Pawlenty was recently elected by a majority of Minnesotan’s…” is simply wrong.
T-Paw had the “Attack Dog Mike” smear machine going. Add to it E-85, Hutchinson, and a LOT of luck, and T-Paw squeeked by.
Okay I stand corrected on my statement - I change it to “Pawlenty was recently elected as the Republican governor in the face of strong Democrat momentum”. There were clearly a lot of Minnesotan’s that voted Dem but crossed over and voted for Tim. One would guess that his tax stance was a big reason why. That’s what stood out most glaringly as his position from the previous 4 years.
And to claim that he won because of smear tactics? Come on. Both sides are equally guilty of that.
T-Paw’s election was fair and square. We cannot assume that most of Hutchinson’s support would have gone to Hatch. I personally think Hutchinson split much of the “anti-Hatch” vote with T-Paw, and those votes would have gone to T-Paw before Hatch.
Nony Moose’s point about timing is good to. The tide was clearly against T-Paw in 2006, and he won nonetheless.
DTM-
I think Hutch’s votes came from a lot of places. Nearly everyone I know who voted for him is now supporting JNP. Those people never seemed like the biggest Pawlenty supporters to me.