Leadership

Eric Black, reporting for MinnPost, has the latest in the "unallotment" story.

DFL legislative leaders, union officials, attorneys and representatives of some of the groups that expect to be hammered by Gov. Tim Pawlenty's "unallotment" plans have been meeting to strategize ways to fight back.

A legal challenge is under discussion, as well as political counterattacks.

Three meetings have been held over recent days, including one Wednesday. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher seems to be running or at least coordinating the effort. She presided over two of the three meetings and another legislator close to the speaker represented her at the third.

The first thought that sprang to my mind when I read this was "where were these people last summer when the session ended with the ANNOUNCEMENT of a huge budget shortfall?" and "What were they doing all last fall and winter when the reality of this recession was settling on us all?" and most importantly "where were they in February, March, April and the first part of May during the legislative session when they SHOULD have addressed all this?" Then my next thought answered the questions.....

Where were these people last summer when the session ended with the ANNOUNCEMENT of a huge budget shortfall? - They were all gearing up for the fall campaign by holding townhall meetings that only screened out questions that were critical of the Legislature or asked how they were going to FIX the problem.

What were they doing all last fall and winter when the reality of this recession was settling on us all? They were (in the fall) campaigning for office on the claims of fiscal responsibility and fixing the problem - promises that they never kept.

Where were they in February, March, April and the first part of May during the legislative session when they SHOULD have addressed all this? They spent the first 13 weeks of the session passing more spending bills on wants - rather than figuring out how they were going to fund the needs (like GAMC).

The same people that frittered away the last 12 months that they had to fix these problems are now complaining about the fact that someone has decided to FIX THEIR MESS (rather than kicking the can down the road some more)??? If the DFL leadership was so concerned about fixing the budget, why didn't they do it during session? Why didn't they take the compromise that Governor Pawlenty offered them (when he gave in to them on 2/3 of their objections to the his budget proposals)? WHY DIDN'T THEY DO ANYTHING CONSTRUCTIVE THIS PAST SESSION?

My dear friend Gary Gross is absolutely spot on in his analysis of the situation....the only one showing leadership in this situation is Governor Pawlenty. The DFL Leadership, on the other hand, are acting like a bunch of spoiled three year olds that didn't get candy before dinner. It's time for the DFL Leadership in St. Paul to grow up - and if they refuse to do their Constitutional DUTY then the voters need to replace them with adults who are willing to do the job that they have been hired to do!