January 6-8, 2009
Jan 06 09:39 Taking Issue With Tarryl Jan 06 13:31 Let the Fighting Begin Jan 08 03:57 Democrats Misstep, My Prediction Becomes Reality Jan 07 12:55 Hot Talk With the Ox: State Capitol Edition Jan 07 18:09 Blogger Conference Call With Sen. Senjem Jan 08 00:44 Cuts For Me But Not For Thee? Jan 08 12:08 Making Minnesota A Business-Friendly State Jan 08 12:35 I'm In a Sharing Mood Jan 08 15:06 Gov. Pawlenty Starts Session With Real Reform
Taking Issue With Tarryl
Sunday's episode of At Issue With Tom Hauser featured a debate between House Minority Leader Marty Seifert and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Tarryl Clark. During the course of the debate, Tarryl said something that I found rather revealing. Here's what she said that caught my attention:
It's maybe time to look at everything. It's maybe time that we relook at how do we stabilize our state revenue and look at how we can some things differently, and frankly, there's a lot of spending on the tax side as well.It's difficult for me to think of taxes as spending. When President Bush first took office, the Democrats' main argument against his proposed tax cuts was that they cost however many billion dollars. That struck most people as odd since most people thought ouf their money as...gasp...their money.
I learned that winter that that type of thinking is foreign to Democrats. That's why I think Tarryl's statement is revealing.
First, it's obvious that there isn't a legislator around that's thinking about cutting taxes. There's near unamity, if not total unamity, in the House and Senate GOP caucuses that tax increases shouldn't be considered, especially before the legislature has gone through the current budget line by line.
Considering the fact that the DFL wanted to kill JOBZ, something that the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce wanted kept in the budget, I suspect that Tarryl is thinking that JOBZ as spending on the tax side. The good news is that, ultimately, the Chamber won that fight.
Here's another thing that Tarryl said that jumped out at me:
Hauser: You can talk about reform all you want but reform inevitably ends up meaning that some people that are getting state services now won't be getting them after this reform, whether it be in HHS, whether it be in education, early childhood, any of those things.Tarryl thinks that we can only find a half billion dollars worth of wasteful spending in a $35 billion budget? That's less than 1.5 percent waste, 1.4 percent to be precise. That's an absurdly low total.
Tarryl: Sure, and an estimate, a good estimate would be that maybe we could figure out how to save about $500 million.
I learned that through personal experience at Fingerhut. During a difficult year, our CEO announced that the corporation's goal was to reduce spending by 1 percent without affecting operations. I was put in charge of reaching that goal in the department that I worked in. Within a month, my team identified savings that reduced our department's budget by almost 4 percent. We did this without changing operations one iota, too.
If there's anything that's guaranteed, it's that any big bureaucracy, whether it's found in corporate America or in government, wasteful spending exists at a far greater amount than people will admit. The notion that legislators can find 1.4 percent of the state's budget in wasted spending says that they're either terribly unskilled at identifying wasteful spending or they aren't terribly interested in identifying wasteful spending. It's possible that they're identifying wants as needs which can't be cut.
The bottom line is this: I'd be surprised if politicians couldn't cut spending by 5 percent without people noticing.
Here's the other thing that Tarryl said that jumped out at me:
Tarryl: Well, a couple things that we're going to be doing is looking at how we can improve & make more efficient government services while we're waiting for the governor's budget to come out because the governor is the leader and we have to look at what he's going to do.Shouldn't that be what legislators always do? Shouldn't they always be looking for ways to deliver the same amount of services at a cheaper price?
Isn't that why the legislature should conduct oversight hearings at the start of their budget process?
Here's a partial transcript of their At Issue appearance:
Hauser: We've kind of lost sight of the fact that the legislature will also be convening this week and they've got a big job ahead of them. Joining me now to talk about that are Senate Majority Leader Tarryl Clark and House Minority Leader Marty Seifert. $4.8 billion is the projected deficit right now. It's possible that number might grow in February. Hopefully, it will shrink a little bit when the next forecast comes out. What is the first thing you have to do out of the gates to get the ball rolling to eliminate that?
Tarryl: Well, a couple things that we're going to be doing is looking at how we can improve and make more efficient government services while we're waiting for the governor's budget to come out because the governor is the leader and we have to look at what he's going to do. We have to look at where we can be cutting the budget. We have to figure out a way to do that that won't make this economy worse. We have to figure out how we can be protecting our citizens.
Hauser: Because the governor's budget will come out in late January but before that time, Rep. Seifert, you want to at least get some work done, at least have some hearings, kind of get an idea on where people stand in Minnesota in terms of what they think should be done.
Seifert: Sure, sure. You know, I think the budget will be a challenge but if you look at the monumental size of this, we have to do things differently and there's an opportunity for us to do government service delivery changes that maybe should've been done years ago but because of the size of this, we're gonna be looking at what citizens think we can be doing. Do we need some departments? Are there some service delivery systems that we can do differently and how the cities and counties interact with each other?
I just think that there's a lot of opportunities for us to change government for the better and we should look at this as a positive possibility in terms of reforming government rather than us just being in the doldrums. Certainly, there's gonna be some pain involved in the amount of money that needs to be reduced but we need to talk about it as an opportunity, too.
Hauser: You can talk about reform all you want but reform inevitably ends up meaning that some people that are getting state services now won't be getting them after this reform, whether it be in HHS, whether it be in education, early childhood, any of those things.
Tarryl: Sure, and an estimate, a good estimate would be that maybe we could figure out how to save about $500 million. That's still not very big compared to what the size of the overall problem is. So we're also going to be listening to what Minnesotans say. There's going to be up on the Senate website a place where Minnesotans can come in and saying "Hey, here are things that are important to me. Here's what I think we can do differently. We're gonna need ideas from Minnesotans about what's important, what we need to keep doing, how we can help make a difference in people's lives right now when so many people are hurting.
Hauser: Is anything off-limits? I know in this first round of unallotment that the governor did K-12 education, public safety, military veterans' benefits, some of those things were off the table. Can anything really be off the table when you're looking at nearly $5 billion?
Rep. Seifert: I think when it comes to the parameters of everything that the government spends money on, everything is on the table because it has to be. But in our opinion as Republicans, the family budget should be off the table, the budget of those small businesspeople and those job creators should be off the table but everything that the government spends money on should be on the table for analysis, for revision, for reform, for right-sizing, because, frankly, that's what I think is expected in times like this.
Hauser: I think what you were saying without saying it is that tax increases should be off the table. Is that what you were talking about?
Rep. Seifert: Everything that the government spends money is on the table but the average family does't have money in their sock drawer for state government programs. They barely have enough money to take care of themselves at this point. So if we can work together like we did with unallotment -- we had multiple meetings with the Governor on the leadership side, Democrats and Republicans, and people are looking for decisive action and leadership and the Governor showed that in unallotment in a bipartisan way and hopefully we can continue that as we keep whittling away at that problem.
Hauser: Can you take revenue off the table when there is no budget reserve left, when there's no tobacco money left to go after, when there's hidden money pots left in state government. How do you erase this without raising some revenue? Can it be done?
Tarryl: Well the Governor is even talking about non-tax fees so we're not really sure what that is but we're going to have everything on the table. Our former governors who've gone through this, Gov. Quie and Gov. Carlson, have said "look, you're gonna have to look at everything." It's maybe time to look at everything. It's maybe time that we relook at how do we stabilize our state revenue and look at how we can some things differently, and frankly, there's a lot of spending on the tax side as well. So keeping an open mind, looking at lots of solutions -- there's gonna be some clunkers out there -- but let's also look at what we can do. To me, a real important piece to this is this isn't just about this immediate problem but it's also about how do we put our state on a good path for the future.
Originally posted Tuesday, January 6, 2009, revised 02-Jun 9:53 AM
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Let the Fighting Begin
This Pi-Press article indicates that the battle lines for the upcoming fight over solving the deficit are being drawn. I say let the fighting begin. Dane Smith, president of Growth & Justice, is already weighing in on the deficit. His suggestion is predictable:
Dane Smith, president of Growth & Justice, a progressive think tank, said last fall that the state has already made "real cuts that have caused real pain to real people." It will need more revenue to help solve the current problem, he said, and the wealthiest Minnesotans, who pay a smaller percentage of their income in state and local taxes than other taxpayers, can afford to pay more.Smith's mantra that "the wealthiest Minnesotans" "pay a smaller percentage of their income in state and local taxes than other taxpayers" is actually accurate. That's because the DFL keeps increasing the most regressive taxes like the gas tax and various sales taxes. People that think passing regressive taxes that hurt the working poor, then use that as justification to increase taxes on "the rich", don't have any credibility with me.
"To think we could balance this budget without a reasonable increase in the rates on those who can most afford to pay it is unrealistic," Smith said. "Once we come to grips with the scale and shape of the projected shortfall, this reality will settle in for legislators."
The truth is that Smith and his allies think that most tax increases are a good thing. Forgive me if I don't agree with that position.
One thing that we'll certainly see are multiple townhall meetings sponsored by the DFL where they'll trot out every excuse imaginable to justify tax increases and a bonding bill:
Kelliher said DFL lawmakers will then take Pawlenty's budget "out on the road" to give Minnesotans an opportunity to comment on it and offer alternative ideas at public hearings."Offering alternative ideas" is a euphemism for saying that they'll use these meeting to criticize Gov. Pawlenty's budget. Let's be clear about this. The DFL won't use these meetings to offer constructive criticism, which is legitimate. Constructive criticism is required for there to be a constructive process.
Having attended more than a few of these types of events, it's easy picturing the audiences being composed of a few people with real needs and lots of smooth-talking lobbyists who are fighting to maintain their budget but don't care about delivering important government services at a reasonable price.
Let's remember the DFL's slogan, which I spotted at a Minneapolis restaurant:
The gap between more and enough never shrinks.I suspect that Marty has it exactly right:
House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, predicted the DFL road show would be a "misery tour" designed to stir public opposition to Pawlenty's budgetcutting proposals. "It won't help," he said.I'm thinking that "it won't help" because it isn't intended to help. Tarryl can say that the DFL is interested in cutting the budget all she wants but let's remember that Tarryl thinks that $500 million worth of cuts from a $30+ billion budget is cutting the budget alot :
Hauser: You can talk about reform all you want but reform inevitably ends up meaning that some people that are getting state services now won't be getting them after this reform, whether it be in HHS, whether it be in education, early childhood, any of those things.Both sides have laid down their preliminary markers, with the difference being that the DFL intends on fighting hard because it wants to protect its special interest allies.
Tarryl: Sure, and an estimate, a good estimate would be that maybe we could figure out how to save about $500 million.
Posted Tuesday, January 6, 2009 1:31 PM
Comment 1 by Master of None at 06-Jan-09 02:07 PM
The claim by Growth & Justice, that the wealthiest pay a lesser percentage in state and local taxes is true only because of the assignment of business taxes to consumers and workers. Yet you never hear a call by the DFL for a reduction of business taxes.
Democrats Misstep, My Prediction Becomes Reality
The day Harry Reid said that they wouldn't seat Rolad Burris to replace President-Elect Obama in the Senate, I predicted that the political fallout would be so high that they couldn't carry it out very long without paying a steep political price for it. Charles Babington says it best in this AP article :
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats who thought they could push away Roland Burris misjudged the racial fallout, underestimated public reaction and wound up on shaky legal ground.This outcome was predictable from the instant that Bobby Rush stood up at Gov. Blagojevich's press conference where Gov. Blagojevich announced Burris as Obama's replacement. In fact, I said at the time that it was a brilliant political move on Blagojevich's part.
The blunders began when the Democrats, including President-elect Barack Obama, insisted they would not seat Burris as the Senate's only black member because the appointment came from a governor accused of trying to sell Obama' former seat. On Wednesday, they all but admitted being outflanked by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, praising Burris and suggesting he soon will be a senator.
I don't think that the Democrats suffered any lasting damage because of this incident. Rather, I think this is just another indicator of Sen. Reid's incompetence. I think it's proof that Sen. Reid's political instincts are second to just about everyone's.
Instead of focusing on Burris and racial issues, Sen. Reid thought he could reject Burris on the grounds that Gov. Blagojevich was corrupt. It's apparent that Reid misunderestimated Gov. Blagojevich's willingness to fight. Gov. Blagojevich essentially played chicken with Reid and Reid caved.
Check out this collection of brave-sounding predictions that didn't come true:
Top Democrats' response was quick and nearly unanimous: Burris would never be seated because of the governors' misdeeds.Senate Democrats are famous for being blowhards. They're also incompetent. Now that the entire world knows that they run the show in Washington, they won't get away with blaming Republicans when things go wrong. They won't get away with it because there won't be enough Republicans around to blame.
"Anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative" and "will not be seated by the Democratic caucus," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his top deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Obama said, "Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat."
Let's see how ugly it gets now that the Democrats have the spotlight all to themselves.
Posted Thursday, January 8, 2009 4:00 AM
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Hot Talk With the Ox: State Capitol Edition
This morning, KNSI's Dan Ochsner did his morning show from the State Capitol. The first interview I heard was with Rep. Dan Severson and Sen. Michelle Fischbach. The highlights of that interview are as follows:
Rep. Severson said that he's working on several things but that the most important legislation he's working on is the Photo ID legislation that Tom Emmer is writing. Rep. Severson said that he's co-sponsoring. Rep. Severson said that he's also working on a bill that will make Minnesota more inviting to retired veterans. Rep. Severson cited the fact that Minnesota is one of only 5 states that taxes veterans' retirement checks. Severson said that he worked with Gov. Pawlenty last session to pass a $750 tax credit but that still isn't enough.
Severson said that getting more retired military veterans in the state is a positive thing because veterans are talented people who'd fit right into Minnesota's workforce.
Sen. Fischbach said that she, too, would be co-sponsoring the Senate Photo ID bill and that she'll also be working on reforming the Green Acres bill affecting rural property taxes.
Both legislators talked about Tarryl Clark's taking $30,000+ in per diem in the context of the legislature needing to show leadership in cutting costs with the oversized deficit. Both legislators also talked about the mysterious school bus that showed up at several St. Cloud polling places. They didn't call for a formal investigation of the incident. Rather, they chose to use that as a justification for the PhotoID bill, saying that requiring people to show their ID would eliminate the possibility of people voting where they aren't eligible to vote.
Sen. Fischbach even talked about her counselling a young person from her district to vote absentee in Paynesville because that was this young person's hometown. This young person is currently attending college.
Next up was Rep. Tom Emmer. Rep. Emmer said that he's authoring the PhotoID legislation. Rep. Emmer said that people claim that this will have an adverse affect on turnout. Rep. Emmer said that the statistics from this election, especially from Georgia and Indiana, say that that argument isn't credible. Rep. Emmer also talked about a man he met on the bus heading to the Capitol who wore a button saying "I Voted Twice." Rep. Emmer said that, since the man identified himself as a Twin Cities resident, he asked "How do you know that both votes got counted"?
Here's the quote about photo ID Rep. Emmer made that jumped out most at me:
"They may have the votes but we've got the people on our side."I totally agree with Rep. Emmer's statement. The DFL will be putting themselves on the 10 percent side of a 90 percent-10 percent issue. There are no indications that any DFL legislators will initially vote for Rep. Emmer's legislation. This is almost an article of faith type thing within the DFL.
Rep. Emmer then talked about a bill that he submitted that would've returned per diem levels to where they were 4 years ago, which was then $55 a day. Rep. Emmer said that Rep. Tony Sertich "did what he always does when he doesn't agree with a bill", he sent it to the Rules Committee "where it will never be seen again." Rep. Severson talked about that bill, too.
It seems to me that $55 a day during the session is more than sufficient for the legislators' eating and other incidental expenses. It's important to remember that legislators get money for travel expenses and that outstate legislators get a substantial housing allowance, too.
Next up were Larry Haws and Steve Gottwalt. Larry is saying that taking the budget one item at a time "makes for good radio" but that "we have to look at everything." Of course, we have to look at everything but I don't know how we can cut down the 'overspending forest' if we don't start chopping down each overspending tree. You have to have a starting point and going item-by-item is the most efficient way of looking at everything.
Rep. Gottwalt made the point that "We can't just look at jobs from the perspective of the jobs of today" but that legislators had to "look at the jobs of the future, too." Rep. Gottwalt and Rep. Haws are both assigned to the Bioscience and Workforce Development Policy & Oversight Division, with Steve being the Minority Lead on the committee.
Rep. Haws said that some of the legislation that that committee will deal with breaks more along geographical lines rather than along partisan lines, saying that places like Rochester and the Twin Cities don't necessarily like biosciences jobs going to other cities. If that's accurate, which I think it is, that isn't dissimilar to the education budget.
Mary Kiffmeyer was this morning's last guest. She talked about her high expectations of working with Steve Gottwalt on the State and Local Government Operations Reform, Technology & Elections committee, saying that "Steve is a gifted legislator" who works hard on all the issues. The impression I got was that they'd work well together on the elections committee.
Rep. Kiffmeyer's talked about PhotoID, too. She said that "this isn't about proving voter fraud", that "it's also about holding smooth-runing elections." She said that most people would be surprised that you don't have to prove that they're valid voters. Rep. Kiffmeyer agreed with Rep. Emmer that 9 in 10 people would agree that presenting photo identification should be required.
Another thing that she gets bothered about the unequal treatment of people in the registration process. Rep. Kiffmeyer said that people that pre-register have their registration screened but those that use same-day registration don't have their registration scrutinized. She said that people have to have reasons to trust the electoral process.
At this point, it's difficult to picture how they can have confidence in that process.
Another thing that jumped out at me was the amount of references made to the mysterious school bus that showed up at several voting places in St. Cloud on Election Day. Rep. Emmer, Sen. Fischbach and Rep. Severson all brought that up. This incident isn't going away. Rest assured that something will come of this incident, too. A simple check of the polling place's signin sheet will tell investigators if anyone voted in a precinct where they didn't reside. It might also tell investigators if anyone voted more than once in Minnesota.
Posted Wednesday, January 7, 2009 1:04 PM
Comment 1 by Drew Emmer at 07-Jan-09 02:51 PM
There's more useful news in your post than in most of the pro journalist produced articles in a month of newspapers. Keep on keeping the people informed! Thank you!
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 07-Jan-09 03:44 PM
Drew, Thanks first for that compliment. I don't view this as work, rather as a labor of love.
If accurate information about the day's most important topics doesn't get out in a timely fashion, then We The People can't make informed decisions.
Blogger Conference Call With Sen. Senjem
This afternoon, I joined Andy Aplikowski for a bloggers conference call with Senate Minority Leader Senjem. Sen. Senjem started by saying that the first day of session is usually ceremonial in nature. This year, though, Sen. Senjem said the GOP tried to use the first day to set a theme of what they'd be focusing on.
One of the things the Senate GOP brought up was the fact that the legislature budgets for each legislator to use 5,500 stamps per year. The Senate GOP proposed cutting that number to 3,500 stamps per hear per legislator. Sen. Senjem said that, as Minority Leader, he uses approximately 3,000 stamps annually. Sen. Amy Koch, who made the motion, said that this amendment would save the Senate $56,000 per year.
The GOP proposal was defeated by a 36-29 margin.
Next, the Senate GOP proposed eliminating the Senate's in-state travel budget. Last year, that budget was approximately $100,000.
Unfortunately, that GOP proposal was defeated by a 49-12 vote.
Next, Sen. Senjem said that the Senate currently is required to set its overal budget target within 44 days of Gov. Pawlenty's sending out his budget. The purpose of that is to give both sides an idea of the other side's proposals and priorities.
This year, the Senate GOP proposed setting those targets 14 session days after Gov. Pawlenty released his budget. Sen. Senjem said that it cost the legislature $500,000 a day to operate. Sen. Senjem said that front-loading the system & getting their work done early could potentially save Minnesotans millions of dollars.
Not suprisingly, that GOP proposal was defeated.
In short, every money-saving reform that the Senate GOP proposed was defeated by the DFL on a straight party line vote.
Another thing that was brought up was the budget process as it pertains to the Senate travel budget. The Senate DFL leadership has already announced their plans for travelling around the state after Gov. Pawlenty's budget is released. (Keep in mind that these townhall meetings will take place before the Senate DFL announces their budget targets.) After attending a number of townhall meetings and seeing what happens at them, it's the safest bet imaginable that they'll use these meetings to beat up Gov. Pawlenty's budget proposal.
Three of the biggest buzzwords heading into this year's session were reform, "everything's on the table" and prioritize. Based on their first day actions, the Senate DFL have shown where their priorities lie by defeating a number of cost-cutting reforms from their own budget that would've saved Minnesotans millions of dollars.
In light of their unwillingness to do their fair share in the shared sacrifice department, it's difficult picturing the Senate DFL as serious about cutting wasteful government spending. If the DFL wants any credibility on issues of reform, then they've got to do their part of sacrificing.
Thus far, they've said they wouldn't participate in that shared sacrifice on straight party line votes.
Here's the last question I asked Sen. Senjem:
One thing that's hurting small businesses' bottom line & taking money out of families' pockets is health insurance. What can we look for from the Senate GOP in terms of proposing market-based health care reforms?
Sen. Senjem said that they would propose a number of market-based health care reforms but that they'd likely get defeated on straight party line votes. He also said alot of energy would be expended fighting off the DFL's proposals. I followed up by saying that having the specific GOP reform proposals and the votes would help us hold our legislators accountable. I further said that legislators shouldn't be allowed to defeat common sense reforms on party line votes.
Sen. Senjem agreed with that and promised that they'd publish their proposed amendments and the roll call vote for each amendment.
UPDATE: Andy's post on the Senjem conference call is found here . You'll definitely want to read Andy's take. I especially appreciated Andy's conclusion:
At the conclusion of day one, Senate Republicans had found some simple and painless savings for State Taxpayers, but unfortunately the Democrats were unwilling to cut the perks and fringe benefits for themselves.Amen, Andy. I wholeheartedly agree.
Originally posted Wednesday, January 7, 2009, revised 08-Jan 11:17 AM
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Cuts For Me But Not For Thee?
The DFL has said that everything must be on the table in eliminating the budget deficit. Tarryl Clark said it this Sunday on At Issue With Tom Hauser. Less than a week later, it's becoming clear that a little clarification is in order, especially after finding this out:
ST. PAUL, January 7, 2009 ; The Minnesota DFL-controlled House Rules and Legislative Administration Committee today voted down proposals to further reduce legislative spending as the state deals with a $4.8 billion budget deficit. Three proposals offered by Representative Marty Seifert would have saved taxpayers money and shown the public that legislators are not above playing a role in balancing the budget. Seifert, R-Marshall, said the Legislature should hold itself to the same standard as the rest of state government.I won't take the DFL at their word that "Everything must be on the table" until they put their budgets on the table, too.
"If we are going to be searching in every nook and cranny for ways to save money, it is hypocritical to set our own nooks and crannies off limits," Seifert said. His proposals included reducing House members' allotment of stationary and stamps, as well as reducing reimbursements for Internet, cell phone and other communications services.
"Minnesotans are losing jobs and finding it harder to make ends meet. As they're forced to do more with less, I think legislators can get by with a little less paper and a few less stamps without hurting our ability to stay in touch with the folks back home."
Blocking the three proposals comes only one day after House Democrats torpedoed a Republican attempt to rollback the increase in daily expense reimbursements Democrats passed in 2007.
Budget analysts are working on estimates of how much Seifert's proposals would save. Seifert said that combined with the attempt to undo the 2007 per diem increase the savings would run well into six figures.
Seifert said he advocated for and supports the $2.2 million reduction to the Legislature's budget made in December as part of the unallotment process, but added that a large funding increase for the Legislature in 2007 puts the cut in perspective.
"The DFL increased the Legislative budget by 16 percent two years ago, a higher percentage than schools, nursing homes and nearly everything else. If we're going to ask Minnesotans to make sacrifices, Democrats should at least be honest about how they squandered the $2.2 billion surplus two years ago."
Couple this with the Senate DFL's refusal to cut their stamps allowance and the picture is getting quite clear: When the DFL says that everything must be on the table, the right translation means "Everything except things that directly affect us are on the table."
People are undoubtedly questioning why I'm making a big deal out of the legislators' stamps allowance. "Surely", critics will say, "that isn't enough to put a significant dent in the deficit." I can't argue with that but that isn't the point, either. The point is that, this weekend, a member of the DFL leadership said that "a good estimate would be that maybe we could figure out how to save about $500 million."
I'd suggest that people that think that each legislator needs an allowance of 5,500 stamps per year at a time when legislators are communicating with constituents via email, Twitter and Facebook isn't someone that I'd trust to act with an appreciable amount of fiscal restraint. Either that or they aren't being intellectually honest.
What Tarryl said at the League of Women Voters Education Forum is also instructive:
"I've studied everything thoroughly and there simply isn't any place to cut. We just need more revenue in the system."In January, 2007, Tarryl said that the legislature would hold oversight hearings to identify wasteful spending. That didn't happen. What did happen was that the first budget that the DFL passed was vetoed by Gov. Pawlenty because it would've increased spending by almost 20 percent.
If this pattern of apathy continues, it isn't a stretch to think that the DFL will soon abandon their quest and conclude that they've cut as much as can be cut. The instant they reach that point is the instant that they'll start proposing tax increases.
I'll readily admit that I haven't gone through the entire state budget line item-by-line item, though I know of people who've actually undertaken that tedious task. However, I can say that I've read through several cities' budgets. If you have the patience, it isn't that difficult to identify wasteful spending.
It'll take serious people from both sides of the aisle to balance this budget. That doesn't seem possible at this juncture. Thus far, the GOP in both the House and Senate have shown that they're looking for ways to save money. Now it's a matter of determining if the DFL will join that effort.
I won't hold my breath waiting on their decision.
Posted Thursday, January 8, 2009 12:45 AM
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Making Minnesota A Business-Friendly State
When the conversation turns to making Minnesota a business-friendly state, most conservatives rightfully think of cutting taxes and reducing small business's regulatory burden. It's time conservatives started thinking in terms of a well-educated workforce and health care reform as important to making Minnesota business-friendly, too.
I don't mean to suggest that conservatives should adopt the DFL's education policies and I certainly wouldn't suggest that we adopt their health care 'reforms'. I'm also not suggesting that conservatives don't care about education policy or market-based health care reform.
Rather, I'm suggesting that conservatives put greater emphasis on, and communicate more frequently about, those issues. We've got alot of great ideas, especially on reforming health insurance and health care in Minnesota. We should be telling small business owners and families about those ideas whenever we're presented with the opportunity.
There's an old parable from the Bible that fits well here. It's the parable of a person lighting a candle. The parable goes on to say that you don't light a candle and put it under a bushel basket. Rather, we're instructed to put the lit candle in a prominent spot where it will light the entire room.
That parable applies to us because we haven't put our health care and education policies in the spotlight enough. It's time we started highlighting those policies more consistently.
My adopted state representative Steve Gottwalt understands that. There isn't a townhall meeting that I've attended where he hasn't taken the time to tout the importance of applying conservative principles to developing education policy or health care reform.
I think it's our responsibility to tout things like HSA's, introducing competition into Minnesota's health insurance industry, removing unproductive state mandates and offering custom-built insurance policies, also known as cafeteria-style plans.
Here's how I'd sell custom-built insurance policies. I'd tell people that health care consumers should beg allowed to sit down with their primary care physicians and build a policy based on their needs. I'd also talk about how ill-advised state mandates add to the cost of insurance policies. I'd characterize those mandates as a hidden tax on small businesses and families.
If more people knew about all the things that state government does that drive up the cost of health insurance, they'd be furious. That visceral reaction is exactly what we're looking for. When people react viscerally, that's when people are taking things personally. That's when they're open to a reform message. It's also the minute they start thinking for themselves instead of accepting groupthink, aka talking points.
Let's understand that groupthink is what the DFL uses in putting together cookie-cutter policies. By comparison, conservatives are at their best when they're challenging the status quo. We're at our best when we're asking 'what if' questions. That's the only way we'll stay the party of ideas.
It's the only way that we'll return to the majority. It's time that we made the time to sell the 'good product' we've got.
Originally posted Thursday, January 8, 2009, revised 09-Jan 11:58 AM
Comment 1 by The Lady Logician at 09-Jan-09 12:07 AM
Anderson Windows lays off 50, Alliant Tech lays off 80, Best Buy lays off 500 and Macy's closes it's Brookdale store....
Will the Legislature get it?
LL
Comment 2 by Si at 09-Jan-09 11:01 AM
In a down economy layoffs are inevitable.
As a small business owner I pay my fair share to the state. As an employee of a fortune 500 company I don't know that they pay in as a percentage of revenue as much as I do into the state. Thomson Reuters develops products in Minnesota, licenses it in Ireland or another country with favorable tax laws. The revenues off this product avoids state and in alot of cases federal taxation. 3M does the same thing. So in the end it is small business and individual taxes payers who pick up the tab.
We need to close up these loopholes to allow tax avoidance by multi nationals.
I'm In a Sharing Mood
I just got an email from Steve Gottwalt , my adopted state representative. The email contains the link to a new House website where we, the great unwashed, are encouraged to offer our suggestions on solving the budget deficit:
PLEASE SHARE YOUR IDEAS WITH US!This is the perfect opportunity for conservatives to make specific suggestions on wasteful spending that they've identified. It's also the perfect opportunity to offer reforms that will make government more efficient while costing less.
The Minnesota House of Representatives has set up this webpage to provide an avenue for you to have a say in how we confront Minnesota's projected budget deficit which totals $426 million this biennium and $4.8 billion for FY 2010-11.
We would also appreciate any ideas you might have as to how to solve the problem. Every idea deserves to be heard. Please use the comment fields below to give us your suggestions and/or thoughts on the deficit.
We would also ask that you please provide contact information in the designated fields. We will not share this information with anyone; we would just like to be able to contact you in case we have questions about your comments or suggestions.
Thank you in advance for your input, it will be important as we work together to solve Minnesota's budget deficit.
Speaker of the House
Margaret Anderson Kelliher
An additional bonus to this is that it gives us the opportunity to put the DFL on the defensive. Everytime common sense conservative sugestions are discarded, we can use that against the DFL legislators that vote against those proposals. It's vitally important that we hold DFL legislators accountable for casting votes purely on the basis of partisanship.
When holding the DFL accountable, it's important that we explain it in a way that makes it personal to Minnesota families and small businesses. It's important that we explain how the DFL's votes will affect their family or their business.
Finally, this is a perfect grassroots-based opportunity. It's time we filled the comments section up.
Posted Thursday, January 8, 2009 12:35 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 10-Jan-09 08:32 PM
And your specific suggestions are -- I read the post twice. I missed them.
Could you repeat?
Comment 2 by eric z at 10-Jan-09 08:34 PM
One thing I would do - Drop charges against the RNC 8, save money and time and grief that way; then cut the State Homeland Security staff budget greatly, remove bureaucrats from that dunce show, etc.
Gov. Pawlenty Starts Session With Real Reform
I didn't get to this statement yesterday but it's too important to ignore. Here's the official announcement of a common sense education reform:
GOVERNOR PAWLENTY, LEGISLATORS INTRODUCE SHARED SERVICES PROPOSAL TO REDUCE COSTS FOR SCHOOLSRevenues aren't likely to grow anytime soon so reforming best practices policies is the smartest way to save money without limiting essential government services. Cutting fat wherever it's found is the best way to prevent the need for tax increases. The types of savings that other states have realized with this program will help reduce the deficit. Equally important is the fact that these reforms will help deliver a great education product.
January 7, 2009
Saint Paul - Governor Tim Pawlenty and key legislators today announced a bipartisan proposal that will require Minnesota school districts and charter schools to combine efforts to reduce costs. The proposal will compel schools to pool limited resources in order to deliver more cost-effective services, redirect administrative costs, and reduce duplication.
The Governor joined with Senator Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka), Senator Gen Olson (R-Minnetrista), Senator David Hann (R-Eden Prairie), Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley), Rep. Carol McFarlane (R-White Bear Lake), and Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) to introduce the proposal.
"There are 340 school districts and 150 charter schools in the state, but back-room functions don't need to be duplicated 490 times," Governor Tim Pawlenty said. "Shared services will allow Minnesota schools to focus resources where they are needed the most, in the classroom and on improving student achievement."
Under the Minnesota K-12 Shared Service proposal, school districts and charter schools will be able to pool their purchasing power for information technology, food services, supplies and equipment, operations, transportation, and other goods and services.
All Minnesota public school districts and charter schools will be required to participate in shared services.
"We can use this financial crisis as an opportunity to re-invent our approach to the business of running schools; targeting our resources towards increasing student achievement," Senator Bonoff said. "Let's take advantage of what 21st century knowledge and technology offers us in terms of best practices. Schools can pool their buying power, reducing expenses and ultimately providing more resources for the classroom."
Under the proposal, the Minnesota Department of Education will create and maintain a list of preferred vendors for various Shared Services. Once the list is compiled, MDE will create contracts with those preferred vendors on behalf of the State and work with school administrators, educators, school board members and other stakeholders to develop and implement a two year shared services plan to help schools best utilize those vendors for cost savings.
Governor Pawlenty is hopeful that the Legislature will pass a bill for this initiative sooner rather than later so that districts may realize savings during the 2009-2010 school year. School districts in other states have saved 5 percent to 15 percent in purchasing and information technology services. For example:
- One Pennsylvania school district was able to save approximately $100,000 through the sharing of food services that helped standardize health and safety practices.
- The California Charter School Association entered into shared services agreements for worker's compensation insurance resulting in approximately $20,000 in savings per school on an annual basis.
- Through the Midwestern Higher Education Commission, IT software sharing occurs among Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin resulting in a combined savings of $750,000.
Unfortunately, not everyone is on the same page in terms of delivering a great educational product at the most affordable price possible:
Dear Colleagues,My friend Leo Pusateri works in the Rocori school system. He's informed me that he sent Ms. Greiling an email asking her to explain what she means by "guideposts to measure how our state is doing by our students." I'll post the link to Leo's post when Ms. Greiling replies to his email.
The New Minnesota Miracle education finance reform bill is outside my office (381) for signatures. This is the bill stemming from the Governor's education finance reform task force and the P.S. Minnesota report. It equitable and adequately provides funding so all students, no matter where they live and what their challenges are, have the opportunity to graduate from high school ready for success in college, university, technical schools or to go straight into a good job. The House K-12 Education Finance Division held numerous hearings around the state last summer and fall on this bill and received rave reviews in every area of the state. It is scalable, so can be phased in with a little or a lot of funding. Either way, it provides accountability guideposts to measure how our state is doing by our students.
Mindy Greiling
UPDATE: Leo has posted his email exchange with Rep. Greiling on what her definition of "accountability guidepost" is. Predictably, it isn't what normal think it means.
It's important that we phrase things right on this. It's intellectually dishonest to think of the money saved through Gov. Pawlenty's bipartisan education reform plan as a spending cut. It's intellectually honest to call the money saved as money saved.
The impression left when talking about spending cuts is that of services not getting delivered. That isn't what's happening within Gov. Pawlenty's reform. Essential education services are still being delivered.
It's intellectually honest to say that the same level of services are getting delivered. They're just getting delivered at a cheaper price.
Let's illustrate this from a parental angle. If teachers are getting cut and programs are being shrunk or eliminated, it's pretty easy picturing parents getting upset with cuts. It's impossible, however, to picture parents getting upset that school districts are paying less for the food they serve.
Let's illustrate this in another way. If given the option to choose between these two models, which would most parents pick"
Option A: Teachers getting cut, bigger class sizes & a status quo lunch program.
Option B: Stable levels of teachers, more money for the classroom and a cost-efficient lunch program.
If we care about intelligently exercising fiscal restraint while delivering essential services, Option B is the superior model. And it isn't even debatable.
Posted Thursday, January 8, 2009 9:29 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 10-Jan-09 08:30 PM
It sounds like a gimmick name unless and until it hits the ground running, or gasping and wheezing and dying quickly, one or the other.
We wait. We see. Why pom-poms now, Gary?
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 11-Jan-09 01:23 PM
No pom-pons, Eric. I'm just applauding a politician that used common sense in saving taxpayers money. This isn't complicated. It's time that politicians thought things through & came up with good ideas. I'm tired of politicians who consistently come up with cookie-cutter, inside-the-box solutions.
Thankfully, Gov. Pawlenty doesn't fit that description.
