Pawlenty’s “Policy Scams”
July 27th, 2009 at 12:47 pm By Jeff Van Wychen
Last week, Governor Pawlenty claimed that President Obama “is scamming the American people” when it comes to health care reform. When it comes to policy scams, Tim Pawlenty knows wherefore he speaks, having perpetrated a few of his own. To wit:
- The governor’s budget from the 2009 session shifted the lion’s share of the state budget problem into future biennia for future officeholders and future taxpayers to deal with. The amount of the shifting resulting from Pawlenty’s unilateral unallotments will be even greater than what would have occurred in his original budget.
- In January, Pawlenty proposed sale of “tobacco appropriation bonds.” This was an attempt to sell future tobacco settlement dollars so that the state would not have to raise taxes in the current biennium (i.e., under Pawlenty’s watch). Given that the state will be facing even greater fiscal challenges in the future as increasing numbers of baby boomers retire, it was inane to sell future revenues for a relatively small pay off today. The “tobacco appropriation bond” proposal was so bad that even legislators of the governor’s own party wanted nothing to do with it.
- Pawlenty has repeatedly claimed that Minnesota “does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.” The facts say otherwise. From the beginning of the Pawlenty administration, real per capita state spending has declined. However, real per capita state tax revenue has declined even more rapidly, thereby contributing to large deficits. In short, Minnesota has a revenue problem. Besides, if Minnesota does not have a revenue problem, why did the governor propose sale of tobacco appropriation bonds?
- Regarding local governments, Pawlenty has said “They need to get their heads out of the clouds and stop increasing spending.” In reality, real per capita county, city, and school district budgets have declined more rapidly than the state government budget during the period that Pawlenty has been in office. It is the governor who needs to get his head out of the clouds.
- In an attempt to shrink the perceived size of the state budget deficit, the governor continues to adhere to the policy of counting the impact of inflation on state revenue but not on state spending. Both the State Council of Economic Advisors and the non-partisan State Budget Trends Study Commission have recommended abandoning this policy in favor of the pre-2002 approach of taking inflation into account on both sides of the state ledger.
The governor appears to be of the opinion that if he repeats a fiction often enough, it will become fact. An examination of Pawlenty’s track record reveals that he is the last person who should be tossing around accusations of “scamming.”
Wow, this is nicest clearest summary that I have seen. Kudos to you!
Kelly
Scammin and Jammin Tim Pawlenty July 27, 2009
Tim Pawlenty believes President Obama is “scamming” the American people with his national health insurance initiative. Apparently he is unaware that America is the only industrialized nation on earth that does not have efficient and successful universal health coverage. But when Pawlenty talks about scamming we all stop and listen for he is the king of political scam. It takes a scam artist to pledge to Grover Norquist that he’ll never raise taxes in Minnesota while the consequence of such a regressive policy is skyrocketing property taxes and fees. It takes quite a bit of scamming to put forth Q-comp, Pawlenty’s underperforming innovation in education quality, as anything but a political attempt to divert pay from teacher’s unions. Remember the MNDOT scam? Lieutenant Governor Molnau was going to efficiently run two jobs at once, saving the public money, and trimming the Department of Transportation at the same time. She got in on the scam by thinking she could starve MNDOT’s budget and maintain road safety to boot. That scam collapsed with the bridge into the Mississippi.
Speaking of scams, how about the former Commissioner of Health withholding medical findings that could inform taconite plant workers of the amount of risk they might be taking with respect to mesothelioma while at the same time explaining to the mining companies that they may face future liability. Now that’s a scam of the first order. And what about the JOBZ program scam? Does anyone really think that any of those JOBZ recipients were going to leave the State or were attracted here from somewhere else?
It’s been six years but former Education Commissioner Cheryl Yoecke was scammin and jamming her brand of education standards down the throats of Minnesotans in an attempt to politicize our children’s learning. That scam didn’t work and she was run out of town. OH man, how could I forget enviro-scammin Cheryl Corrigan, former 3M executive who was brought in to run the MPCA like a corporation. Her scam was to remove people who were actually engaged in real research and discovery of environmental toxins, especially when they got close to 3M property or 3M products. Keeping that scam going was akin to plugging a hole in the dike with a finger. She ultimately was overwhelmed by the distribution of 3M chemicals in ground water and decided to spend more time with her family.
One of the mysteries of Pawlenty’s governorship is his ability to perpetuate the scam he is actually an environmentalist. When given the opportunity to take the lead on invasive species in the Great Lakes he elected to defer to Bush’s incredibly destructive non-action on a comprehensive strategy to treat ballast water on ocean going ships. At the same time he reduced the budget of the DNR so that no enforcement of environmental laws was practical. His DNR Commissioner opened the entire northern half of the state, unless posted specifically as off limits, to the damaging traffic of ORV’s. Other than a mercury reduction agreement with EXCEL, his rhetoric on the environment has been a total scam.
Lately, Pawlenty’s “Sam’s Club Republican” scam has received national attention. The irony is, of course, that people shopping at Sam’s Club have more to loose from an arch conservative like Pawlenty than just about anybody else. This brings us to his latest “unallotment”, “the democrats made me do it” scam. How can this governor fail to engage the legislature on any meaningful level and refuse discussions on every possible compromise during a historically difficult budget year? Yet, Pawlenty thinks his unallotment scam makes him invisible to this peculiar failure and gives him a presidential look. Now that is a scam artist believing his own scam.
So you see, no one is more qualified to spot a scammer than Tim Pawlenty. When he schools us on scammers we’re inclined to respect his experience.
If Tim gets the nomination for President or VP from the GOP I hope every intelligent MN resident starts a “swift boat” like campaign to tell the rest of the country how he operates. This guy should be working the midway at the state fairs conning people.