Commentary; Posted: 5/18/05
What message did House vote send?
T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Rep. Kathy Tingelstad, R-Andover, after the milepost transportation vote in the House last week mentioned sending a message.
Throwing aside the no new tax mantra, a group of suburban House Republicans voted for a dime increase in the gas tax, higher tab fees, and other revenue enhancers to jump-start a multi-billion transportation initiative.
To House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, the message received from the House floor last week was one of piggishness.
Itís O.K. he doesnít have an iron grip on the caucus, Sviggum explained. But some where along the line, people have to be willing to compromise.
In a sense, the votes cast by Tingelstad, Abeler, Garofalo and others were indeed messages, as the tax increases contained in the House transportation bill are unlikely to become law.
Even assuming the Senate passes the bill, Gov. Pawlenty is bound by word and signature to veto it.
Still, the action by the seven House Republicans last Wednesday night (May 11) is significant. It highlights the notion that transportation has become a really big deal.
ìI think itís inspiring,î said Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman, of the vote by the House, speaking on ìAlmanac.î
Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said with a grin after last Wednesdayís vote that he considers the gas tax a user fee.
Well, alright.
But those Republicans took the vote with the full knowledge that some constituents would hit the roof.
Plainly, they think most of their district residents, creeping home after work as dinner time ticks away, would understand.
Transportation is an issue Rube Goldberg might have designed ó a complicate, domino-tipping, fuel-dripping gadget perfectly counterbalanced to produce status quo.
As Rep. Mary Liz Holberg, R-Lakeville, House Transportation Finance Committee Chairman, said last week itís tough to pass a transportation bill.
At odds are Greater Minnesota versus the metro; suburban versus big city; transit versus highway, bus versus transit rail, pay-as-you-go versus bonding; toll lane versus unfettered access; and an artistís palate of shadings thereof.
Besides the internal tension, thereís the politics of the day.
Northstar Commuter Rail Line was so vilified on the House floor you had to draw a deep breath and remind yourself the object in question ran on rails, was a familiar if unwelcomed intrusion to the buffalo, and ostensively involves a fellow in a striped hat.
Not that rabble-rousers at the Capitol havenít had solid points.
Senate Minority Leader Dick Day, R-Owatonna, took the transportation department to task for over regulating the highways and as a result, a few entrance ramp meters blinked off.
The present moment is ripe for political drama.
Senate DFL leaders last week both seemed to exalt and condemn the fact Republicans, in plain site, were voting for tax increases.
In Senate committee, Republicans, backed by a trio of Greater Minnesota DFLers, voted the transportation bill out of the Senate Tax Committee to the floor or oblivion.
The Senate transportation bill, like the Houseís, contains a gas tax increase and tab fee hike.
Sen. Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, Senate Tax Committee Chairman, said afterward he was appalled that Republicans were voting to tax the middle class ó speaking specifically of the gas tax increase.
Sen. Mark Ourada, R-Buffalo, one of the architects of the Senate transportation plan, had had just about enough.
ìI donít know how long people are going to stick their head in the sand,î said Ourada about transportation.
ìAnd how long are people like Larry Pogemiller going to spew nonsensical political crap to try to spin it like that,î he said.
However the politics of the moment are interpreted, the fact remains that a group House Republicans crossed the party centerline steered, apparently, by more compelling forces.
Whether this session results in a modest transportation bill or none at all, a slumbering giant has been roused and is sitting up, rubbing its eyes.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605