Good Legislators, Bad Politicians

We’re in the quiet period now, as the legislature and governor do their dance, pre-session end. The nail biter is whether the DFL majorities can convince Governor No to sign onto a restoration of $70 million in bonding money for Central Corridor LRT or whether the line is delayed two or more years until the next bonding session while other transit initiatives fall like dominoes in its wake.

I’m placing my bet on “no,” for primarily this reason—I think the Senate and House DFL leaders are poor politicians. Note: I did not say poor representatives of their constituents. Politics is the art of the possible, the art of compromise. We can watch our federal government to see the outcome of government by executive fiat and partisan impasse.

And the more I’ve thought about it, the more I wonder what Sen. Larry Pogemiller and Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher were thinking when they signed off on a bonding bill that left the governor’s top priorities out and exceeded his stated limit by $100 million bucks? I mean, he has a line-item veto! Did they not grasp that?

And how did they think he would wield it? On lots of $3 million projects scattered all over the state in various constituencies or on one or two big-ticket projects with limited geographic impact in constituencies where he is already unpopular? Then factor in Pawlenty’s inevitable pique at having his transportation funding veto overridden by these same metro-area legislative leaders.

Should anyone have been surprised that Central Corridor was line-itemed? Apparently Kelliher and Pogemiller were. Which really calls into question their savvy and political skills.

As gasoline spirals up toward $4 a gallon, who anymore questions the need for a serious public transportation infrastructure in this metropolis? So it’s all the more ironic that when the Central Corridor was needed more than ever, our legislative leaders decided to play political chicken with it.