Almanac: At the Capitol

Gov. Pawlenty is weighing in heavily in floor debates today. First Republican House Minority Leader Marty Seifert apparently heard from the governor along with the speaker and Pawlenty asked them to stop debating an education bill without a global deal and that it created a situation of "negotiating in bad faith."

Then the governor paid a visit to the Senate Republican caucus urging them to vote against an opt-out for REAL ID minutes before it hit the floor. The caucus will be split on this. This issue creates the most interesting coalitions. The liberal-conservative team of Moua-Limmer led the charge as we reported yesterday. The Senate passed it with plenty of room to override 50-16.

Meanwhile negotiations are picking up again between the governor and legislative leaders. They're popping in and out of meetings right now. They said they're still working on some tax issues. Property tax relief continues to be the sticking point--and perhaps the Senate's position. Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem just came out and said "we'd be done if it was up to Margaret" meaning the DFL House Speaker. He said a certain senior member of his chamber is the problem. Could he be talking about Pogey?

REAL ID is back. The Senate Finance Committee just added an opt-out for Minnesota into another bill. Sen. Mee Moua's bill had to do with executive branch whistleblower protection. Ironic that this new bill would send the executive branch a bit of a bomb. Conservatives were considering joining liberals on an override of the governor's veto of the transportation bill that contained a REAL ID opt-out. John McCain is the only major candidate (Democrat or Republican) to support REAL ID. And we don't have to draw the line between Pawlenty and McCain for our astute readers. Conservative Senator Warren Limmer joined liberal Moua in making this happen. Limmer said he doesn't want this foisted onto the state from the fed and we should join the ranks of states opting out of this mandate. The bill heads straight to the Senate floor.

In the same quick committee we found out that Senate Bonding Chair Keith Langseth is officially on board on reviving Central Corridor light rail. The Senate Finance Committee just moved a new bill along on this as well. These amended bills are called "vehicles" in Capitol speak. Chair Dick Cohen asked a very rural Langseth if he was really in favor of this and Lanseth responded "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Langseth said he hopes to get Central Corridor to the Senate floor yet today and possibly quickly on to the governor. Pawlenty was clear again today that he won't sign money for the Central Corridor without an overall budget deal first. He said he didn't feel any pressure to sign the bill.