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Friday, June 17, 2005
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Governor: Blame the Democrats In LF, Pawlenty spoke on budget impasse Associate Editor LITTLE FALLS -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty Thursday blamed Senate Democrats for the Legislature's failure to reach agreement on target budget figures for the health and human services funding bill.
That particular obstacle is one of the hurdles the Legislature has to overcome before its June 30 deadline for a partial government shutdown.
The governor, addressing Morrison County residents early Thursday at the Little Falls Chamber of Commerce office at the 1899 Cass Gilbert depot, said DFL insistence on increased spending for welfare and social service programs is the reason target budget figures have not been reached.
Without those numbers, the working group of bipartisan legislators assigned the task of reaching a compromise doesn't have a lot to do, said Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, earlier this week.
Koering, a member of that working group, which acts in a manner similar to a conference committee, said this week there was no progress at a Wednesday meeting with legislative leaders and a representative of the governor's office.
"I found it unproductive," he said adding that there were indications that the governor and legislative leaders were seeking some sort of "global" or all encompassing agreement that would settle all the remaining question marks relating to the major spending bills.
"The working group doesn't have a whole lot to process," Koering said.
Pawlenty, speaking at the Little Falls chamber meeting, defended his plans to eliminate eligibility to MnCare, a state-subsidized health insurance for working Minnesotans whose firms do not provide health insurance. Even though a number of Minnesotans will lose their eligibility, he said, the total number of participants will increase because the program is growing so rapidly.
The governor singled out Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, as responsible for the delays on health and human services legislation. The two lawmakers have "dug in" and failed to match the governor's accommodations.
After the meeting, the governor's spokesperson, Brian McClung went a step further, accusing Democrats of a "cynical political strategy" to bring about a government shutdown.
Senate Democrats have denied they were trying to force a government shutdown and some have urged the governor to go along with passage of a base budget while negotiations continue.
The governor, whose great-grandparents settled in the Little Falls area after traveling here from Europe, spoke on themes he's addressed repeatedly in central Minnesota. His talk included such themes as how Minnesota must adapt to globalization, realign its kindergarten through 12th-grade curriculum to become more challenging, encourage performance pay for teachers and slow down the increase of taxes so businesses will be willing to locate in the state.
The Senate's budget plan, which he said amounts to a $1.4 billion tax increase, would make Minnesota the highest-taxed state in terms of income tax.
"It would be miserable and terrible for businesses and job producers," Pawlenty said.
He said he had hoped his cigarette health impact fee would be a session-ending compromise but said it wasn't well received by the Democrats.
Opening the session up to questions the governor fielded queries from Morrison County Administrator Tim Houle, Pierz School District Superintendent George Weber and Marnita Van Hoecke, zookeeper at the Pine Grove Zoo in Little Falls.
Responding to a question on prescription drug costs from Weber, Pawlenty noted prescription prices are increasing drastically and he called for price transparency. He said Minnesotans should be able to purchase drugs from Canada if that's the best deal available.
Van Hoecke asked about the prospects of state funding for the city's zoo, noting that it serves students from throughout central Minnesota along with others from the Twin Cities.
Pawlenty said bonding bill usually includes money for projects of regional or statewide significance. He said he and legislators could tour the zoo to assess its significance at a later date. He encouraged her to work with Rep. Greg Blaine, R-Little Falls, who was at the meeting.
Van Hoecke said after the meeting the zoo is the second oldest zoo in Minnesota.
Houle asked if more should be done to discourage families with financial resources from distributing an older parent's assets to children and enrolling the parent as a medical assistance client.
Pawlenty agreed it was a problem, even with regulations that look back at asset distributions during a five-year period.
"Their relatives get a lot of cash and taxpayers pay for their nursing home care," Pawlenty said. "We need to tighten that up some."
MIKE O'ROURKE can be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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