The people of Colorado learned the hard way just how much damage an amendment like this can cause. Their schools have suffered and children have been kicked off health care. Quality of life has been lost for a generation while state leaders try to figure out how to recover.
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Economists warn flexibility is the key to any economic recovery. States that turn to restrictive formulas like this one are actually going to grow jobs more slowly and won't be prepared to face the future. The Governor has already stuck Minnesota with a permanent deficit. Now he seems determined to leave us with a permanent revenue shortage.
Steve Kelley:
Tim Pawlenty has once again proved that he is interested in gimmicks, not governing. Pawlenty has specialized in shifts, hiding costs, and calling taxes fees for his entire administration. His newest ploy is simply more of the same - diverting Minnesotans from a real conversation about the challenges that we face.
Everything Pawlenty has done this year is about his own political future, not what's best for Minnesotans. The timing of this proposal - on the heels of his PAC fundraiser - could not be more politically cynical.
Matt Entenza:
I'm not going to hold back job growth and shackle our economy. This is nothing more than a gimmick, and when I'm governor, I'm going to end governance by gimmick.
Paul Thissen:
Governor Pawlenty is proposing that we govern the state by looking in the rearview mirror instead of looking to the future. This is a simplistic approach to tackling Minnesota's challenges coming from a governor who has taken little interest in actually managing the state budget to meet our needs.
Under his watch the number of political appointees in state agencies has grown, interfering with our ability to transform how government services are delivered in the state. He has shifted over $2 billion onto local property tax payers and he has repeatedly proposed funding programs by putting the cost on the state's credit card.
I'm running for governor because we need someone who will take the responsibility of managing the state budget seriously.
