Compare And Contrast

Utah and Minnesota, like every other state in the Union, are facing a severe budget short-fall. How the two state's legislature is a telling study in contrasts. Utah legislators have gotten out the green eye-shades and sharpened their pencils.

House Republicans want to cut 15 percent from next year's state budget to help make up for what is expected to be at least a $1 billion shortfall. Incoming House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, says under the House plan Republicans agreed to Monday, no state agency would be spared.

"This is an unprecedented time. We don't have a historic benchmark to figure out $1 billion-plus cuts in the state of Utah," he said.

"I don't know how any form of state government is not going to be impacted at this point in time."

Their counterparts in Minnesota (on the other hand) are pointing the finger.

Democratic legislative leaders are blaming a lack of jobs for the state's projected $5.2 billion budget deficit. And they're pointing some fingers at the agency responsible for job creation, calling for a major overhaul at the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and others are stressing job creation when discussing the deficit. She told Minnesota Public Radio it's time to re-examine the state's economic development efforts.

Because after all, they can't be responsible for a $7.2 billion dollar swing in the state budget. It HAS to be someone elses fault and who better to blame than a Republican appointee and the business community!

And that in a nutshell is why the state of Minnesota is $7.2 billion in the red.