Info on Unallotment

From The Political Animal, download the PDF here.

After the jump Statements as I get them.  First from Paul Thissen, then the DFL and MAPE, Rt Rybak and Barb Johnson of Minneapolis, and Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner.

Statement from Representative Paul Thissen on Governor Pawlenty’s Proposed Unallotments

Once again, Governor Pawlenty didn’t miss the opportunity to enjoy a national headline at the expense of ordinary Minnesotans.

I met with some of those Minnesotans last night in Chatfield, Minnesota. The group was deeply concerned about the future of their town. Main Street businesses that can no longer afford to reinvest and renovate their properties because property taxes are just too high. Families that leave for the cities because health care is simply too expensive on local salaries. Governor Pawlenty’s unallotment decisions are not good news for the folks in Chatfield or people living in any number of towns and cities across Minnesota.

Of course, the Governor’s cuts today are not surprising. They are simply the ultimate example of his values: Do everything as cheaply and quickly as possible and never look back at the consequences. And Minnesotans are left with the fallout: a budget deficit that remains unfixed, tax burdens shifted to homeowners and Main Street businesses, underfunded hospitals, and elimination of important services like mental health services for kids and adolescents and emergency heating and food aid — problems that don’t go away just because the funding has been eliminated.

We need to turn back to the values that have made Minnesota a great place to live: honoring hard work, looking beyond narrow self-interest, creating opportunity for the next generation, understanding that our success as a state depends on the success of everyone, not just a few.

Bottom line: Minnesotans have been offered a false choice of cutting services or raising taxes. We have alternatives. Just this year, I initiated and passed legislation to start a Social Innovation Fund in Minnesota. The fund aims to ensure more accountability from non-profits who receive state dollars – measuring results, extending the reach of successful ideas, encouraging programs to become self-sustaining rather than reliant on ongoing government funds.

I also was proud to work with counties from across the state to make sure basic services are delivered more efficiently and more effectively, with less duplication and overhead. Unfortunately, Governor Pawlenty chose to strike the funding for that important innovation, setting us further behind.

Governor Pawlenty’s old way of doing business is hurting Minnesota. We need fresh ideas and creative leadership in the Governor’s office and we need it now more than ever.

DFL Party Statement Regarding the Governor’s Unallotment Recommendations

St. Paul (June 16, 2009) — The Minnesota DFL Party released the following statement from Associate Chair Donna Cassutt:

“This spring, the Legislature put forward a responsible, balanced budget that cut government spending and sought to raise permanent revenue to solve Minnesota’s financial crisis and revive our struggling economy. Legislators visited with Minnesotans all over the state to hear concerns and gather their input of how to best address this crisis and put Minnesotans back to work. But instead of working with the Legislature, the Governor — with the full support of Republican legislators — ignored their balanced budget and failed to negotiate honestly.

In short, Governor Pawlenty and the Republicans failed Minnesota — and today, Minnesota’s working families are paying the price of their failure. In slavish adherence to the same failed philosophy that drove America into recession — not to mention his own ambition — Pawlenty and the Republicans have embarked on the arrogant, reckless, and potentially illegal path of unallotment that will hurt hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans — and drive Minnesota’s economy even further into a hole.

In the middle of the deepest recession in three decades, it is unconscionable that Governor Pawlenty and the Republicans would cut Minnesotans’ police and fire protection, damage our hospitals, kick Minnesotans off healthcare, and further dim our children’s future rather than do their jobs and negotiate in good faith with the legislative majority.

The governor admits his cuts and deferrals were ‘targeted’—sadly, those targeted clearly include our most vulnerable: those living in poverty, the disabled, children, and seniors. And Pawlenty knows it.

The Republican actions today — which will lead to higher property taxes, fewer hospitals and worse healthcare — will push Minnesota’s families off the economic cliff.

While President Obama is boldly leading America to a safer, more prosperous future, Tim Pawlenty and the Republicans are making a last, desperate stand in Minnesota for the failed philosophy that America has rejected. But make no mistake — today is indeed their last stand.”

Statement of MAPE Executive Director Jim Monroe,
On Governor Pawlenty’s Unallotment Announcement
June 16, 2009

“Governor Pawlenty’s unallotment priorities speak volumes to the fact
he has turned his back on Minnesotans while turning his attention to
the national spotlight.

While he cuts local government aid to communities which will delay
hiring police and firefighters, or lay them off, Governor Pawlenty
would rather threaten the safety of Minnesotans than lay off members
of his full-time security detail who travel all over the country with
 him.

When it comes to education, Governor Pawlenty turns his back on the
public school system and the University of Minnesota which educated
him and helped him pull himself up by his bootstraps. Pawlenty’s cuts
to state colleges and universities coupled with payment delays to
school districts will shred the bootstraps of every high school and
potential college student in this state who desires a brighter future.

How can Governor Pawlenty call himself a Sam’s Club Governor when he
increases the number of uninsured in this state by 30,000 people
knowing full well that every Sam’s Club member and every other
Minnesotan will end up paying for our uninsured citizens?

When it comes to education, Governor Pawlenty turns his back on the
public school system and the University of Minnesota which educated
him and helped him pull himself up by his bootstraps. Pawlenty’s cuts
to state colleges and universities coupled with payment delays to
school districts will shred the bootstraps of every high school and
potential college student in this state who desires a brighter future.

Governor Pawlenty commented at today’s press conference that
unallotment will put additional pressure on state agencies. MAPE would
like to offer a solution of where we would work with the Governor to
find deficit reduction solutions. MAPE believes the deficit can be
reduced while maintaining vital services provided by state employees.
The first two areas to look for waste are 1.9 billion dollars in
outside contracts and over 100 million dollars in bloated management
levels in the Pawlenty administration.”

June 16, 2009 (MINNEAPOLIS) Following are statements from Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and City Council President Barb Johnson on Governor Pawlenty’s action today to cut funds to cities across Minnesota:

Mayor Rybak statement:

Today Governor Pawlenty has made his choices about how to cut the state budget. I deeply disagree with the governor because his choices will hurt many people. The governor has offered no plan for putting people to work, only for cutting jobs during a tough economy, and has offered no strategy for fixing a broken state budget that continues to lurch from deficit to deficit.

Earlier this year, we revised our 2009 city budget based on the cuts we anticipated the Governor would make. Because we did that, the City of Minneapolis will not need to make any more cuts to our budget in 2009. This is exactly how we have faced budget challenges before. Over the past several years while the state has been lurching from fiscal crisis to fiscal crisis, Minneapolis has eliminated nearly $90 million in debt, controlled our spending much better than the state, and made city services more efficient. As a result, we have balanced our budget every year and for years to come.

I deeply disagree with Governor Pawlenty’s choices, but as Mayor I have a job to do and that job is to preserve and create jobs and keep my city safe. People are looking for solutions and we are going to find solutions. It won’t be easy, but we have made tough decisions before and we will do it again:

· These cuts mean the loss of thousands of jobs in healthcare, our largest job sector, so my job will be to work with our employers and training facilities to grow and preserve jobs. The city budget we adopted left every job program in tact and we are delivering even more jobs for youth this summer.

· These cuts mean fewer funds for police officers, so my job will be to keep our city safe and maintain the gains we’ve made in reducing crime for more than two years in a row. Public safety will remain our top budget priority.

· These cuts mean the state budget will still be in deep structural deficit for years to come, so my job will be to continue to keep Minneapolis fiscally sound with less debt and a healthy budget reserve. We will not follow the state’s fiscal example of short-term fixes that create long-term problems. We will continue long-term planning that pays down debt and controls spending.

Because of the economic growth strategy we have in place, the City of Minneapolis is positioned to create jobs, grow locally-based industries and compete in a global marketplace. Although Governor Pawlenty has made it more difficult for us to create jobs and turn the economy around. It means we will work even harder to look beyond these cuts to build a stronger economy and a safer region.

(more)

City Council President Johnson statement:

“Unlike the State, the City of Minneapolis has addressed its financial challenges head-on by paying down debt, doing long-term financial planning, and delivering services more efficiently. If the State had been as disciplined about managing its finances as we have been, they wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“It is important for everyone to understand that cuts made by the Governor are massive and will be felt by every Minnesotan, and unfortunately those cuts still will not solve the State’s budget problem. Since 2003 the Governor has cut more than $50 million from the fund Minneapolis uses to pay for police officers and firefighters. The people of Minneapolis contribute much more to the state in taxes than we get back, and once again, the Governor has chosen to take the State’s financial problems and pass them on to cities across Minnesota. As local governments, we provide direct services to our residents and visitors—unlike the State, we can’t pass those cuts on to someone else. That’s means we’ll have to continue to make tough choices.”

“Minneapolis, like many other cities across the state, won’t just be affected by direct cuts in funding to cities. Cuts to higher education and healthcare will also hit those two fields hard, and as some of Minneapolis’ biggest employers, the region’s economy will suffer.”

Statement of Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner
DFL candidate for governor calls on Pawlenty to engage in a meaningful and sincere debate

(St. Paul,MN) Today’s action by Governor Pawlenty, laying the ground work to unilaterally unallot billions of dollars previously dedicated to address the human, social and environmental needs of Minnesotans, is clearly a seminal moment in our state’s history.

Indeed, it is a sad day when Minnesota’s representative government cannot work together to solve one of the most pressing economic and fiscal disasters our state has ever faced.

For anyone to call the governor’s action “strong leadership” would belie the essential meaning of good government and principled service to its constituents.

Clearly, these are difficult times that require difficult decisions, but those decisions are best made after a meaningful debate and within a spirit of compromise. The process we have witnessed was neither.

Today, I call on Governor Pawlenty to remain open to a truly democratic process and call for a special session. That session must be a respectful process that includes the possibility of multiple options and have the intention of putting our state back on track and easing the considerable pain that the unallotment process will surely bring.