Almanac: At the Capitol

Just a few minutes into his address, Pres. Obama said "there are 57 police officers who are still on the streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan prevented the layoffs  their department was about to make."  He was then interrupted with applause. The biggest applause line was when he mentioned the vice president heading up an oversight effort "because nobody messes with Joe."  Critics have been saying he needs to bring more humor and confidence.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who spent Superbowl Sunday with the Obamas, got a quick shot with the pres right after the speech.  She looks delighted.

Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar had a slick new media response ready before the speech began, but embargoed until its completion.  Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher is attending the address, the guest of Congressman Keith Ellison.   Last time she left for Washington, Minority Leader Marty Seifert made a milk carton with her face on it, saying his Speaker was missing.  So her press release noted "Kelliher is traveling at her own expense to attend the Presidential address.  She will leave for Washington later today and return tomorrow morning."

Here's what you need to know about soon to be new MnDOT Commissioner Tom Sorel: He comes from outside of MnDOT and he has a technical background as a civil engineer. Both of those facts are politically important, especially after a bridge collapse. Interesting that the governor's office went to Sorel instead of the other way around. Sorel sounds like he'll be pro-transit and light rail. He was the USDOT liaison to the Salt Lake City Olympic games and led the effort to build "infrastructure" including mass transit. I asked him if he'd advocate to get Central Corridor back on track and he wasn't ready to commit to that. He did drop the pro-transit term "multi-modal" several times.

Frequent MnDOT critic Senate Transportation Chair Steve Murphy was satisfied with the pick. Murph said he was "very impressed" with Sorel's comments about transit and he thought Sorel "left the door open" to Central Corridor. Murphy spoke with federal Transportation Chair Jim Oberstar who is also "confident" with this selection. Murphy will hold confirmation hearings, but it won't be anytime soon. Pawlenty and Murphy gave great praise to acting commissioner Bob McFarlin who attended the press conference in "support" of the appointment. McFarlin was one of three people interviewed for the job. Sen. Murphy said he would have been "comfortable" with McFarlin as well.

The big unexpected story out of the Capitol today is Senate hearings looking into a possible Northwest Airlines merger. Sen. James Metzen (DFL-South St. Paul) crashed Tarryl Clark's weekly briefing with reporters. He said he was just going to come and tell Bill Salisbury from the Pioneer Press but decided to talk to all of us because he said "this scares the dickens out of me." The NWA headquarters are in Metzen's district. He says Congressman Oberstar will also be attending hearings he's hoping to hold next week at the Capitol. Metzen, who's the Senate President, says "we'll ask a lot of tough questions." Metzen will be live on Almanac tonight.

The House isn't jumping on board yet on the hearings, but they are concerned. Speaker Anderson Kelliher said "the loss of a hub would be dramatic; the job loss could be very severe." The governor just weighed in too, sending a letter to Northwest and Delta's CEOs. He reminded the airlines that the state gave $445 million in loans and leases and said "we trust and expect these commitments will be honored." Pawlenty also went on to say that "we are willing to make additional commitment to keep the hub at full operation and the headquarters in Minnesota."

A busy day at the Capitol today and there's lots of talk about a gas tax — a temporary gas tax. Congressman Jim Oberstar just had a press conference to say he'll introduce a 5 cent increase in the federal gas tax, but it would be temporary and sunset after three years. But Transportation Chair Oberstar wants the state's gas tax increase to be permanent saying the state needs to "face up to it" and "let's not get stuck in this no tax mindset." Interesting that a temporary gas tax is okay for the fed but not for the state according to Oberstar — now he, of course, did note that it's been a couple of decades since the state has raised its gas tax. Gov. Pawlenty has also said he wants a temporary and/or revenue-neutral gas tax increase. I'm guessing that's because he's gotten some heat from his Republican base. In fact, the Republican party people were standing outside the Oberstar event ready with press releases saying a federal gas tax increases is "unwarranted" and that federal transportation dollars are spent on "glitzy pet projects of senior members like Oberstar." Legislative leaders are meeting with the governor this afternoon on parameters for a special session on flooding and transportation. Also this afternoon the House-Senate Transportation Committee will also continue its hearing into the 35W bridge collapse and rebuild. Some of last week's discord has been smoothed over now that Pawlenty says the bridge will be light rail ready. I'll talk more about these topics Thursday morning around 9:20 at the WCCO Radio booth at the State Fair. Come and say hi as I chat with Eleanor Mondale and Susie Jones (I'll have some family members hanging around too including my 2-year-old Capitol obsessed reporter in training).

Here's the email I got from a viewer along with alarming photos you have to see:

Here is the Highway 36 bridge as it passes over Minnesota 95N in Bayport just before you veer left and go down the hill into Stillwater. I cross my fingers each time I drive under it. This "patch" has been in place for at least 5 years.

Another interesting article is from a former Strib reporter working for Matt Entenza's think tank. Also, KARE did some good digging on the story. Tonight on Almanac, we're planning a special 90 minute edition. We're likely to have U.S. House Transportation Chair James Oberstar, Sen. Norm Coleman and Mayor R.T. Rybak live on the show. State Capitol transportation experts Sen. Steve Murphy and Rep. Mary Liz Holberg are booked. We're still waiting to hear back from Gov. Pawlenty...

I find it interesting that the PR message from the White House and the Governor's office seem to be clashing. Gov. Pawlenty's message has been that the bridge was inspected and got a "clean" bill of health. Now President Bush's office is saying that the bridge had "structural problems." These are certainly two different messages that I'm bet Pawlenty's office doesn't appreciate. Politics has officially begun, just two minutes into Pres. Bush's press conference he noted that Democrats won the last election and now they control the calendar in congress. It's almost setting up the stage that if disaster relief doesn't come quickly you know who to blame. Oberstar is marking up a transportation bill right now for $250 million to replace the bridge. He will try to get it through the House today. Senators Coleman and Klobuchar expect to return to Washington later today to likely pass the same bill through the other chamber. We'll see if congress can move quickly.