Pawlenty keeps his promise to us taxpayers

Pawlenty vetoes $334 million dollar public works bonding bill on Wednesday, keeping his promise to us taxpayers. Of course there was some whining to be heard from the democrats.

"Everything is fun and games until someone gets an eye poked out, and the governor just poked out my eye by vetoing this bill," said Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing. "I think that is a clear indication he wants a train wreck at the end of session. He wants the Legislature to fail, and he wants to blame us."

Cry me a river Senator Murphy! It's your own damn fault. You, your fellow DFL'ers, and your senate president, Jim Metzen. What leadership, Hah! You are all a bunch of bonding bill maniacs! Take the 2006 billion dollar bonding bill. Has any body looked at what that thing funds? Nothing but pork projects for one and for all. Jim Metzen is so proud of that one, and called it a great success. The democrats have the nerve to say that the Republicans are "borrow and spend." At least Governor Pawlenty and the Republicans do something useful with the money they borrow, such as highway construction. Governor Pawlenty said he would gladly sign a stand-alone bill that would provide $2 million to provide flood relief for Browns Valley.

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud said, "We're not sure what we're going to do next."

My question is, what have you been doing for four months? You were warned. Did you think the governor was bluffing? Well keep on dreaming. Pawlenty has said that he will keep you there all summer. Want to keep on gambling that it's a bluff? The big downfall there is I am sure you all will eat up all the per diem you can squeeze from us.

One thing that I really enjoy about all of this, Metzen had money in this bill earmarked for light rail on Robert Street.

Senate President Jim Metzen, DFL- S. St. Paul, said he is pleased to have voted for the investment package, which includes two key items for the southeast metro area.

"This is not a traditional bonding year, so the investments we're making aren't on the scale of the nearly $1 billion we approved last year, but this legislation will mean important improvements in many areas of the state, and takes advantage of a better economic picture by using General Fund dollars to pay for many of these projects," said Sen. Metzen, "Our region does very well in this bill, getting much-needed funds for regional trail improvements in S. St. Paul, and for a study of transit options in the Robert Street corridor."

Included in the bill is $250,000 for the Met Council (W. St. Paul Mayor John Zanmiller is on this task force) to study transit options in several key corridors in the Twin Cities. One of which is the Robert Street corridor, where Sen. Metzen is pushing for exploration of a light-rail line. I recall that last years bonding bill included $500,000 for a study of the Robert Street corridor study. Maybe Jimmy wants to keep studying it until a study says "yes" to light rail down Robert Street!

Too bad, so sad. You are the Senate President. You are there to lead. You should know what to expect from the governor by now. Better get your ass to work, Jimmy!

Here is Senator Metzen's office phone number 651-296-4370. Go ahead and give him a call and tell him what you think!

I have to mention one more thing. This bill also includes $700,000 for upgrades at Veterans Memorial Community Center in Inver Grove Heights. This building is not very old at all. It's a very attractive building and it is well used by the community. Atkins is responsible for the construction of it and it was ill equipped from the beginning. The refrigeration system for the ice rinks were very inadequate from day one. Now Metzen, and I'll bet Atkins, want state money to bail it out. All I can say is $700,000 is a lot of money.