Gov. Pawlenty hit projects hard that are close to House Chair Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul). Majority Leader Tony Sertich called it "personal" what Pawlenty did to chair Hausman. Sen. Sandy Pappas (DFL-St. Paul) was very emotional right after the gov's press conference, saying the vetoes are "insults to chair Hausman." The question some reporters started asking is if gender looks like a factor with Hausman being a female chair. Hausman was at the governor's press conference but Pappas said she ran out because she was so upset. We haven't been able to verify that because Hausman has been tied up in meetings. But two female senators from St. Paul (Anderson & Pappas) saw gender as a factor.
Senate Bonding Chair Keith Langseth wasn't very upset afterwards and showed little emotion to the governor eliminating about $200 million dollars of the bonding bill he crafted with Hausman. The biggest shock in the Capitol hallways is Pawlenty's slashing of Central Corridor money. Few saw that coming. The governor didn't get a big project he wanted: Vermilion State Park. So lawmakers got something gutted they wanted too. Pawlenty noted that they already passed a huge transportation bill above his objections. The governor is keeping lawmakers on their toes; they really didn't expect a line-item vetoed bill since Pawlenty has been quick to take down whole bills. This reminds lawmakers of some of the unique and huge powers a governor has in a year where they overrode the big guy for the first time.