Pawlenty Still Bad for Minnesota
With the run up to the next governor's election here in Minnesota, this editorial I wrote at the last gubernatorial race that was never published, is just as applicable now as it was then. It's amazingly accurate in its predictions, too. Pawlenty was and is bad for Minnesota.
Tim Pawlenty would be bad for Minnesota
Contrary to Brian Sullivan's claim that Tim Pawlenty offers the best opportunity for Minnesota, Pawlenty is demonstrably the worst possible choice among the four major party candidates.
Let's examine a few items from the Pawlenty campaign.
First, Pawlenty pledges he opposes any tax increase - period. This is a clear indication that the man is grossly ignorant, unflinchingly dogmatic holding stubbornly to impractical theories regardless the consequences, or simply lying. Voters understand that the many benefits we are afforded under our elected government cost real money, and that money does not grow on trees.
Ignorance is no crime, and the ignorant can be educated. But after 20 years in government, Pawlenty has no excuse whatsoever for being ignorant. Anyone who refuses to improve upon their ignorance seems a very poor choice for governor indeed. If he is an ignorant man, it's clear that Pawlenty would be bad for Minnesota.
Pawlenty would ruin all services which government provides -- instead of changing to meet the needs of the citizens of Minnesota -- simply to remain true to his ideology. For a select few of his followers Pawlenty presents a "pure" agenda, but most Minnesotans have lives complicated by reality. Pawlenty the idealogue is bad for Minnesota.
If a governor makes blatant lies to Minnesota citizens, there's little more to be said about it. Nobody wants such a governor. Again, it's clear that Pawlenty would be bad for Minnesota.
Anybody with common sense and the ability to balance a checkbook knows full well when the state is already running a budget deficit of more than $1 billion and many programs are already short of money, one cannot buy promised new education and transportation programs Pawlenty promises without raising taxes. So which are you, Mr. Pawlenty? An ignorant man, a dogmatist or a liar?
Second, Pawlenty complains that our transportation "system is 20-30 years behind." This comes as no surprise to anyone who has been commuting during those 20 years. What may be surprising is to learn Pawlenty and running mate Carol Molnau have year after year vigorously opposed spending needed to prevent or fix this problem during their tenure in the state legislature. As House Majority Leader (Pawlenty) and, Chair of the House Transportation Finance Committe and member of the House Transportation Policy Committe (Molnau), this pair had far more influence over the direction of transportation policy and funding the past 10 years than most other legislators. Today we reap the benefits of what Pawlenty and Molnau sowed.
In the most recent session, despite a growing cry from the public for solutions to highway problems, Pawlenty and Molnau stubbornly resisted increasing the gasoline tax, unchanged for 14 years while the price of gasoline, cost of living and other states' gas taxes increased. Molnau went so far in 2000 as to say that she did not believe congestion was a problem since she saw none while driving the highways everyday from Chaska to the capitol -- of course, that was at 5AM when most people are still asleep.
Clearly here are a pair of politicians who are uninterested in the problems faced by commuters, but rather interested only in themselves and their politics.
Third, the Pawlenty campaign itself is a good example of why Pawlenty would be bad for Minnesota. The campaign got caught red-handed breaking campaign laws, and was docked $700,000. A new Pawlenty TV ad stoops to a new low in dirty, dishonest attack ads by painting opponents as supporters of the terrorists of September 11. The ad states that accused terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui learned to fly in Minnesota -- a complete lie, as Moussaoui did not take even one flight lesson here.
Pawlenty's campaign for governor appears filled with dishonesty. He deceives voters about his real intentions by promising the impossible, such as no new taxes. Pawlenty claims that as governor he will work to solve problems he himself was responsible for causing as a legislator. This kind of politician is bad for Minnesota. Ken Pentel, Bob Moe or Tim Penny are all far better choices than Pawlenty.
