Almanac: At the Capitol

Looking back at the week, I'm not sure which Tim Pawlenty to believe. On Tuesday, after being overidden for the first time he had a press conference where he was visibly angry and annoyed. It was a rare display. Most reporters think he had to put on some of the anger to please the conservatives who questioned how hard he worked to stop the override. Then there's yesterday's press conference where he was good 'ol TPaw, joking, sarcastic, easy-going — and that was minutes after his transportation commissioner was fired. Maybe it was anti-climatic. Maybe he wasn't all that sad to see her go. Maybe he's worried about his nice guy image in the vice presidential race. Maybe we are all just tired. It really was the busiest week in the decade I've been covering Capitol politics. Minnesota Monitor has an interesting round up of the VP Pawlenty developments this week.

Carol Molnau is out as transportation commissioner. The 22-44 vote appeared to be party-line. The tone was sober. Sen. Murphy said he took no pleasure in this act. Molnau quickly issued this statement:

The Minnesota State Senate today exercised its constitutional authority in deciding to withhold my confirmation as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Serving as the state's transportation commissioner these past five years has been one of the best experiences of my life. It has been my honor and privilege to serve the citizens of Minnesota alongside the dedicated professionals in the department. I am proud of the agency's accomplishments in increasing infrastructure investment, improving efficiency and advancing innovation.

I look forward to continuing my service to this state in my role as lieutenant governor. I remain committed to representing this great state, its people and its accomplishments in whatever way I can.

Seconds later the governor had this to say:

Over the past five years, under Lt. Governor Molnau’s leadership, Mn/DOT has completed more road and bridge projects than in any other comparable period in the state’s history. We accelerated a number of major projects around the state, from the expansion of I-494 to Highway 14 to Highway 53 and many in between.

The DFL’s decision to remove the Lt. Governor from her post at Mn/DOT is disappointing. It also shows they’re more interested in partisanship than working together on the important issues facing our state.

I've now had it confirmed from several sources, including senators, that the Senate plans to take up the confirmation of Lt. Gov./Transportation Commissioner this Thursday on the Senate floor. The floor session is scheduled for 11:00am, the same time the budget forecast is going to be released. One has to wonder if this is a strategy to take attention away from a budget deficit that most Capitol insiders say will be about a billion dollars. Sen. Pogemiller was apparently going to call the governor sometime today to talk to him about Molnau's confirmation. She will be rejected and lose her job as MnDOT commissioner. This will be another kick in the teeth to Gov. Pawlenty who was overidden for the first time this week.

Speaking of Gov. Pawlenty, boy was he mad yesterday. Angry. Ticked off. He doesn't get that way often and politically he had to show some steam to regain some credibility in Republican ranks. Republican lawmakers were annoyed Pawlenty was gone in D.C. for days during the critical override. Sure, he worked the phones. But on those phone calls the recipients say it was a pretty soft sell, telling them to just "vote their conscience." Then there's the now famous comment in caucus that if some Republicans did decide to override to do it on the first attempt. With a fierce tone the governor made it clear he didn't mean that to let Republicans off the hook. Republican lawmakers felt otherwise. So the big angry press conference standing side-by-side with Republican legislative leaders was a show of force, but there was some show there.

It's never invigorating to give a big speech to a lot of empty chairs, but that's what Gov. Pawlenty was faced with today. Then we have a shot of Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau appearing to be, as my Dad would say, "resting her eyes" during the governor's State of the State Address. Even Republican legislative leaders admitted afterwards there weren't a lot of new ideas; it forced Minority Leader Marty Seifert to say "a lot we already knew, but it was good to hear again."

Republicans are excited about what may be the one new idea, the 21st Century Tax Reform Commission. Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller shot that down saying he'd rather do something about taxes rather than study them again, adding "it's not a new idea." Now Dems didn't do too much better in their reaction, it took about 10 minutes into their press conference to even mention the governor when they were supposed to be reacting to the governor's address. Gold star to Tony Sertich who recognized by the end of the press conference that reporters still needed a good quote and said "I'll take one more swing at it" and criticized Pawlenty for failing to turn State of the State initiatives into legislation saying "it's a lot of words and not a lot of action."