Outstate would be hurt more by GOP all-cuts budget.
14 Chambers of Commerce, many from outstate took the unusual and politically risky move of opposing Republican budget plan. Here's the story.
And here's a great backgrounder from Arne Carlson on the kind of fiscal situation Gov. Tim Pawlenty left us with. (Gives whole new meaning to Pawlenty's pronouncement in recent presidential bid that we have too much debt. He was the king of taking on debt!).
Carlson makes a key point: some budget cuts cost more in the future. Take cuts below needs to road funding during Pawlenty's administration.
Some 700 miles of highway are now in "poor" condition because we've never met the goal of 2 percent in poor in the last eight years.
When a state highway needs an overlay, if it's not in "poor" condition it costs about $130,000 per mile, according to MnDOT. When it goes to poor condition it costs three to six times more per mile, again, according to MnDOT.
The same thing can be said for health care. When Republicans reformed GAMC last year, they had to set aside $30 million for hospitals to draw from for all the folks that no longer qualified for GAMC as they came to hospital emergency rooms.
Some budget cutting does make sense - duplication of programs etc - but some absolutely makes no sense because we're not analyzing how it creates higher costs in the future.
Here's Dayton's detailed responses to Republican budget and story on same. His veto messages are unusual in that they carry very specific numbers, estimates from revenue and are worth reading.
Story with links to veto messages.
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Interesting. When a Republican was the governor with a Democrat Legislature, the subsequent fiscal situation was the fault of the Republican governor. When a Democrat is the governor with a Republican Legislature, the subsequent fiscal situation is the fault of the Republican Legislature.
ReplyDeleteCare to revise your claim your editorials are not biased toward Democrats?
Patrick. Arne Carlson is a Republican. I believe the article speaks well of him. We have no biases toward Democrats or Republicans or independents.
ReplyDeleteOur bias is toward good ideas - no matter who they come from - that provide taxpayer value and deliver necessary government services efficiently.
Joe - I was actually referring to Pawlenty, not Carlson. Your paper and editorial board blame Pawlenty for the fiscal situation of 2011, but blame the Republican legislature for failing to compromise with Dayton.
ReplyDeleteIt's very easy to claim you have no biases when you are surrounded by people who think exactly like you do. But, those of us outside the collective see the biases clear as crystal as Rep Gunther pointed out in his letter last week. (However, the Free Press did the right thing criticizing the ObamaCare waivers which I supported in an online comment on that story)
Which reminds me, when will the Free Press publish the sources of the claim that the Republicans in the legislature are opposed to tax increases in order to keep the 'big donor money flowing'?
Patrick.
ReplyDeleteYou misunderstand our policy on sources, as does Rep. Gunther.
We require sources where people cite FACTS not generally known.
Our statement "maybe that keeps the big money flowing" is an opinion, not stated as fact.
If stated as fact, it would be something like: "Republicans voted against tax increases because they made an agreement with their donors to do so."
That would require a source.
Simply stating as we did that "maybe" big money influences Republican politics is an opinion, and, we do not require people to lay out a thesis on their cause and effect opinions.
Hope that helps.