Tim Pawlenty has apparently decided that his only route to victory in the 2012 Presidential election is to take a dramatic turn to the (far) right. In the last week alone, he has:
- Endorsed an independent conservative candidate over a Repubican candidate in the NY-23 special election.
- Questioned whether Sen. Olympia Snowe belongs in the Republican party (because the best thing for a tiny minority caucus to do is start expelling its members - maybe the Minnesota Senate GOP should try that).
- Proposed a constitutional amendment that would cap state spending.
What does all of this portend for the 2010 session of the Minnesota Legislature? Disfunction with a capital D. I expect Pawlenty to take extreme positions in order to pacify the right flank of the national GOP. As a result nothing will get done. I wouldn’t even be shocked if a bonding bill fails to pass (for the second time in the history of the Pawlenty Administration).
Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign came out with a few
health care proposals yesterday. The proposals themselves are pretty much unremarkable: some aren’t bad, some are terrible, but whatever. To me, what makes the proposals interesting is that Pawlenty is taking what’s obviously a policy statement from his campaign and trying to make it look like it’s related to his job as Governor — as if any of these proposals will ever even get a start in the legislature.
Let’s forget about the fact that the legislature is overwhelmingly Democratic, and not particularly receptive to Pawlenty’s ideas. Even leaving that aside, Pawlenty is a lame duck, and the only remaining session of the legislature will be a bonding session, not a budget session. In even-numbered years, the legislature’s sole task is to pass the bonding bill. Pawlenty’s proposals don’t really have any place in the upcoming session.
I don’t begrudge Pawlenty his run for president — in fact, I’m hopeful it will bring a bit of attention to Minnesota politics. But I just wish he’d admit that’s what he’s doing, so we can stop pretending his proposals are directed at Minnesotans, rather than the nation at large.
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