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Pawlenty vs. Kelley: two styles, two visions
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| Parent(s) |
Race
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| Contributor | Eric |
| Last Edited | Eric Jul 17, 2005 11:45am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Star Tribune, The (Minneapolis - St. Paul) |
| News Date | Sunday, July 17, 2005 05:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Gov. Tim Pawlenty may have been a little giddy from exhaustion -- or relief -- on Thursday morning, after the Legislature finally got out of Dodge late the night before.
Then again, he may have been working on his reelection campaign speech.
Either could explain the hyperbole with which he described the accomplishments of the 2005 Legislature (the "shutdown session") and the gubernatorial leadership that made it all possible.
His performance pay option for teachers and college credit option for high school students were "nation-leading," he said, the best thing to happen to Minnesota education since Rudy Perpich sat in his Capitol corner. The reduction in health care spending growth, from more than 18 percent to about 14 percent, was the result of his pressure on wild-spending liberals. They would have burdened the "job creators" with higher taxes if he hadn't gotten in their way.
The 75-cent-per-pack cigarette "health impact fee" was his magnanimous compromise, initially spurned by a villainous bunch of DFLers but ultimately the linchpin of the budget deal. It paid for higher spending on education and health care than he first wanted, but he took credit for the uptick.
"If I'm going to take the beating for the fee, at least I should be able to take credit for how it got spent," he said.
And, in response to a mention of his veto of a bill that would have built better roads and transit, Pawlenty claimed that no governor "in the history of the state" had set as many highway builders to bulldozin' as he had.
Listening to the guv, I couldn't help contrast his show with a press conference performance two weeks earlier by the sole declared DFL seeker of the governorship in 2006, Sen. Steve Kelley of Hopkins. |
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