Pawlenty rejects summit invite with a jab at DFL

MPLS star & sickle ^ | 8-12-09 | BOB VON STERNBERG

[WOBBLY BOB]

In a sarcasm-laced letter, Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Tuesday brusquely rebuffed DFL legislative leaders' invitation to a summit meeting that would address the state's ongoing financial crisis. Late last month, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher invited former governors, speakers and majority leaders to a "Minnesota Leadership Summit." In Tuesday's letter to Pogemiller and Kelliher, Pawlenty declined the invitation. "The state already has a 'Minnesota Leadership Summit,'" he wrote. "It's called the legislative session and it lasts approximately five months."

[WOBBLY BOB]

poor Pogotaxer...nobody will meet to hear about his next idiotic taxraising proposal via the DIM-controlled ,4th largest legislature in the country.

no special session and more per diem for you, sucka.

[exist]

I wish he would’ve said some sarcastic things when Al Franken was stealing that Senate seat.

[WOBBLY BOB]

Remember way back when, in 2007, when the state had a whopping $2.2 billion budget surplus? That money was spent growing government, including per diem pay raises for legislators as well as paying for year-round housing despite the fact that the legislature meets for only part of each Remember way back when, in 2007, when the state had a whopping $2.2 billion budget surplus? That money was spent growing government, including per diem pay raises for legislators as well as paying for year-round housing despite the fact that the legislature meets for only part of each year

And you can bet that the deniers will talk about the “cuts” of 2003 and further claim that Minnesota’s quality of life isn’t what it used to be because the state doesn’t spend enough money. Check the facts. Over the past five budget cycles, state spending has grown by the following amounts:
2000-2001: 13%
2002-2003: 15.4%
2004-2005: 7.3%
2006-2007: 8.4%
2008-2009: 13.6%

Where are those “cuts” again, Larry?

“I think it’s simplistic and naive to say people can spend their money better than the government…The notion that everybody can individually spend their money better than government I, I just think is trite, wrongheaded and anti-democratic.”—Larry Pogemiller ( March 8, 2008 State Senator Larry Pogemiller at the Brian Coyle Center in South Minneapolis)