[AlexdeLarge]

A GOP Politician grows a pair !

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he DFL wasn't listening. As the clock wound down (the session ended at midnight this past Monday), the legislature sent Mr. Pawlenty one large spending bill after another. The assumption was he'd veto them, be forced to call a special session, and then be negotiated into tax hikes. That's when the governor got Minnesota nice.

Upon receiving the last spending bill, he announced that he would exercise the power of "unallotment," which has been on the books since 1939 and which has been used four times. Under it, the governor is allowed to "unallot" (take away) any state spending for which there is no money to pay. Panicked, the DFL passed tax legislation to cover its blowout spending bills, 10 minutes before the session's end. Too late. The governor said he'd veto the bill and would not be calling back the legislature to do any more mischief.

[wisconsin_cur]

He is not running for re-election in the state and he will not have to deal with the consequences. He is merely acting in his perceived best interest for his next political goal. The Republican presidential nomination for 2012.

It is pandering... just pandering to you.

[Plantagenet]

Pandering in politics is promising something to the voters that is either unobtainable, or saying something that you don't believe, just to get elected---

Pawlenty did neither. He actually did something----he balanced the state budget as is his duty under the state constitution and he did it by cutting spending.

[frankthetank]

I liked the previous governor a lot better... Being 5 minutes from MN, we hear very little about MN politics... Not discussed much in our local news. Our governor is a bonehead...

[idiom]

Its a bad sign when balancing the budget is considered pandering.

[beamofthewave]

I agree, it is just pandering, trying to do something to make himself look good so that he can win the 2012 nomination, not that any Repub has a chance, everyone has seen what self serving, greedy losers they are who will take a country into a war just so they can try and steal some oil. No wonder N. Korea wants nukes, we dont attack other countries that have nukes, no wonder Iran wants them too. Well, we should be living like other very poor people in resource poor countries very soon as a result of 30 years of Greedy bankers controlling the country.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('idiom', 'I')ts a bad sign when balancing the budget is considered pandering.

[Fishman]

Ah, so if he balanced the budget by taxing the crap out of people working, and continuing a great nanny state, that would NOT be pandering? Sorry your logic fails.
He made an unpopular decision with most of his constitutients being unhappy, he is working to live within the means of his state, radical ideas to some but a hard neccessity. Wether it be peak oil or economic downturn, welcome to reality

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('idiom', 'I')ts a bad sign when balancing the budget is considered pandering.

[smallpoxgirl]

If that's pandering, then we need more politicians to pander in that way. Spending less and taxing less is never gonna bring complaints from me.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'I')f that's pandering, then we need more politicians to pander in that way. Spending less and taxing less is never gonna bring complaints from me.

[wisconsin_cur]

We do not know for sure yet... just judging one what he has said and done so far.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')St. Paul, Minn. — When state officials talk about cutting the health and human services budget, they're talking about Tim Benjamin. Benjamin is a quadriplegic who said a personal care attendant, or PCA, watches him 24 hours a day.

"They shower me. They do my bowel program. They do my range of motion. They dress me. They put me to bed at night," Benjamin said.

Benjamin, of St. Paul, said his PCA also helps him get to work and assists with other daily functions. Before the legislative session ended last month, Gov. Pawlenty signed a Health and Human Services budget bill that will cut funding for personal care attendants. Estimates say as many as 1,600 disabled people will lose PCA services altogether. Another 7,000 people, like Tim Benjamin, could lose hours.

"Two hours doesn't sound like much for many people, but for me, I have respiratory problems," he said. "Without two hours of care, I can drown in my own secretions."

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'I')f that's pandering, then we need more politicians to pander in that way. Spending less and taxing less is never gonna bring complaints from me.

[Fishman]

Boo hoo. Fix the health care system, no lawsuits, limited formulary, ta da, fixed, but the tort lawyers pay off the left.
Boo hoo, person I know on Personal Care services, when asked why, " I can't get my house cleaned up before I go out with my buddies"
Boo hoo, THERE IS NO MONEY,it's called reality.

An economic downturn is tough on everyone, but the best part, watching the left squirm facing reality.

[AlexdeLarge]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', '
')
It is pandering...

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')T. PAUL, Minn. - Gov. Tim Pawlenty capped a personally momentous week with a politically enterprising trip to Washington on Friday, squeezing in at least three speeches and a couple of interviews about his future plans.

Pawlenty's visit came four days after he announced he would forgo a run for a third term as Minnesota governor. It stoked suspicion that he'll pursue the presidency — an option he wouldn't rule out.

He made full use of his time in the nation's capital.

Pawlenty began with a breakfast speech to the Ripon Society, a group that promotes "traditional common-sense Republican principles." He spent lunch as a special guest of the Republican National Lawyers Association. He was to be a keynote dinner speaker at a convention of the College Republican National Committee on Friday night.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', 'I') would hope that he would govern in such a way as reflected the wishes of the people of Minnesota not the national party.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AlexdeLarge', '
')
Oh and BTW,........................ it won't be popular and it will be painful, but it is the reality.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', '
')
And heathcare is a whole other topic. The truth is that if healthcare spending was cut by 75% our health would probably improve. Most healthcare money gets spent on stuff that's of pretty dubious benefit.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', 'L')ets remember SPG, you and I will not be making the cuts in healthcare. MBA's who care about the bottom line will.