Senate Tax Chair Tom Bakk came down to the Capitol Press Corps to respond to Gov. Pawlenty's remarks earlier in the day. Bakk sounded a very interesting and conciliatory note. He said in negotiations "nobody gets everything they want, but governors are very powerful." Of course Bakk wants to be governor too. Bakk also gave a surprising signal saying "we don't have to have a tax bill this year." Some in the press thought that had the echo of several years ago when then Majority Leader Dean Johnson admitted "we don't need anything."
Meanwhile, Pawlenty had a new approach to talking with reporters. He held a casual press conference sitting down with reporters at a big table in his reception room. Pawlenty took on the tax chair saying "Sen. Bakk's bill increases property taxes more than mine" and added that the notion local governments have "no option but to raise taxes is bunk." Bakk said he'd rather not have property tax increases approved either. It seems maybe Bakk could get along better with Pawlenty than Senator Pogemiller who admits his relationship with the governor isn't great.
And Pawlenty is going new media, not just a new website, but he's now on Twitter (with staff help tweeting). This is not a note you get every day:
Hi, Mary Lahammer (mlahammer).
Tim (pawlenty) is now following your updates on Twitter.
Check out Tim's profile here:
http://twitter.com/pawlenty