House Speaker and DFL-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher and her newly-announced running mate John Gunyou visited the Timberjay office in Tower this week as part of a quick tour of northeastern Minnesota.
Kelliher, who became the second woman to serve as Minnesota House Speaker, is now hoping to make history once again as the first female governor of the state. She was endorsed by DFL delegates on April 24, but still faces a considerable primary challenge from former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton and former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza. A recent statewide poll showed Dayton with a ten-point lead over Kelliher, but with nearly a third of DFLers still undecided.
In a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday, both Kelliher and Gunyou called for a balanced approach to Minnesota’s budget problems, for implementing performance standards for government, and restoring local government aid as well as funding for schools.
Kelliher also committed to an immediate adoption of the Medicaid changes included in the recent federal health care reform law, an action that would save or create an estimated 22,000 jobs in the state’s health care industry, cover 102,000 Minnesotans and bring approximately $1.4 billion a year in additional health care funding to the state. That translates to about $51,000 a year to the Ely Bloomenson Hospital, according to Kelliher aide Matt Swenson.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty refused to go along with the Legislature’s request to seek early adoption of the Medicaid provision. Pawlenty has been taking steps towards a likely presidential run in 2012, and the new health care law is wildly unpopular with Republican activists, which would have made acceptance of the federal money politically-awkward for the governor.
Kelliher said she’s looking forward to “closing the chapter on Tim Pawlenty,” and refocusing efforts on restoring the state’s fiscal health. And both she and Gunyou, who served as Finance Commissioner under former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson, said they support a balanced approach to deficit reduction.
Their plan relies on higher income taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans (couples making over $250,000 in adjusted gross income annually) along with spending reductions to trim a budget deficit in the next biennium that could hit $6-7 billion, once inflation is included.
That puts the two of them at odds with the Republican nominee for governor, who has promised to go much further than Pawlenty in reducing the scope of Minnesota’s public sector. “We have an opponent in Tom Emmer who thinks we can cut the state budget by another 30 percent,” said Gunyou.
Local government funding
Kelliher said her selection of Gunyou, who has served for a number of years as city manager of Minnetonka in addition to his term as Finance Commissioner, reflects not only her concern about the state’s budget, but her intent to maintain the state’s commitment to adequately fund local services.
“Margaret asked me to be a voice for local government,” responded Gunyou. “It’s been tragic what’s happened to cities, counties, and schools under this governor.”
While Gunyou’s city of Minnetonka receives no LGA, he said he remains a strong advocate of a fair funding system that allows Minnesotans to receive basic public services regardless of where they choose to live. “What I tell people is that cities and counties are service providers,” said Gunyou. “There’s no Republican or Democratic way to plow snow or fight fires. What they need is a stable funding source.”
Kelliher noted that LGA is essentially a replacement for the property tax, and as Gov. Pawlenty has cut funds to cities and counties, property taxes have risen as a result.
The funding shortfalls to schools have also contributed to rising property taxes, said Kelliher, and as a result, property taxes have risen by roughly $3 billion under Pawlenty.
The recent
legislative session
Like most DFL legislative leaders, Kelliher acknowledges that the budget deal reached with the governor earlier this month does little to fix the state’s budget problems. “It’s a big band-aid,” she said.
DFLers refused to accept the governor’s demand to make his unallotment cuts permanent, while Pawlenty refused DFL calls for new revenue as part of the solution. In the end, the deal relied mostly on a $1.9 billion holdback of school funding and other unallotments the governor made unilaterally following the 2009 legislative session.
While Kelliher admits she was not happy with the outcome, she said the state’s fiscal situation was too severe to hold out for much more, particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that Pawlenty had exceeded his authority when he unallotted funding last year. “The consequences of not coming to agreement by May 17 were dire. It would have started moving us very quickly towards a California-like situation,” said Kelliher.
In the end, said Kelliher, DFLers knew that Pawlenty would never move off his position on taxes, which left few options available other than cuts. At the same time, she said legislators were able to salvage some protections for the most vulnerable Minnesotans “There were no more cuts to nursing homes, and no cuts to the school funding formula,” she said.
While the final budget deal was a disappointment to many DFLers, Kelliher said the early part of the session was more successful, with passage of a new state bonding bill and a job creation bill.
Lake Vermilion park
Kelliher said she supports the creation and development of the Lake Vermilion State Park and believes that development funds should be made available to create a model park for the next generation.
The Vermilion park project did face some DFL opposition, noted Kelliher, in part because it was a high priority project for Gov. Pawlenty. But Kelliher said she supported it anyway. “I think it’s a good idea and we need to make it work in a sensible way,” she said. “We have to support the right development model.”
At the same time, Kelliher said all Minnesota state parks are facing a backlog of deferred maintenance that needs to be addressed. “We also have to support the parks we already have,” she said.
