Another Look inside the Wild World of Political Endorsements
John Tuma’s Capitol Update – April 29, 2010
“He advocated a constitutional amendment to limit state spending increases to no more than inflation plus 1%. Grunseth saw this as a way to distinguish his candidacy from the others. At this time all the candidates were sounding the same basic themes. All were pro-life (for now), pro-environment, pro-education.”
- Leon Oistad and David Hoium, There Is No November, 1991*
In 1990 Minnesota experienced one of the most bizarre gubernatorial elections in its history. The campaign of Republican-endorsed candidate John Grunseth melted down in the midst of allegations of sexual impropriety. Grunseth withdrew only 12 days prior to the election, resulting in Arne Carlson being placed on the ballot as the Republican candidate after a second-place finish in the primary, allowing him to go on to eventually win the election. Carlson’s victory was due in part to DFL Governor Rudy Perpich’s campaign having become tainted with the negative attacks against Grunseth in the last month of the election, even though it was revealed after the election that most of the negative Grunseth information was dug up and spread around by Carlson’s campaign operatives.
Prior to this bizarre finish to the 1990 election, there was an often overlooked, spirited Republican gubernatorial endorsement campaign. Before his eventual victory in the endorsing convention and primary, Grunseth was locked in a vigorous four-way race. His opponents were state auditor Arne Carlson, Doug Kelley and Dave Printy. What is most interesting from the above quote by Oistad and Hoium (Grunseth’s campaign manager and press secretary) is the fact that all of the Republican candidates were identified as being “pro-environment.” We know that’s true for Doug Kelley because he’s now board chair of the Conservation Minnesota Voter Fund, but even the two candidates trying to win over the conservative delegates in the race (Grunseth and Printy) were viewed as “pro-environment.” Prior to the convention, all the candidates indicated they were opposed to mining in the BWCA Wilderness because this was during the first time dangerous sulfide mines were being proposed in our Border Lakes region.
By the time most of you read this blog, the 2010 Republican Party convention in Minneapolis will have already selected their gubernatorial candidate. It will be interesting to contrast the winner’s positions on the environment to those from two decades ago. The DFL Party endorsed their gubernatorial candidate last week at their convention, Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher. She still faces a formidable challenge from former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton and former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza in the August primary. The 2010 gubernatorial election will be of utmost importance in our efforts to protect our lakes, rivers and streams, produce clean renewable energy, and again deal with mining issues.
An interesting aside: one of Grunseth’s chief lieutenants in his 1990 campaign was a young lawyer by the name of Tim Pawlenty. Now that Pawlenty has aspirations for an office higher than governor of Minnesota, his earlier green tone to environment and energy policy has taken a bit of a brown hue. Nonetheless, the early years of his administration certainly had a message very similar to that of Grunseth on the environment. I also find it interesting that the Grunseth issue of a constitutional amendment limiting the spending growth mentioned above, used two decades ago to distinguish himself from the other Republican rivals, was very similar to an issue Governor Pawlenty rolled out at the beginning of this legislative session meant in part to contrast himself from his national presidential rivals.
Once the state major party conventions have finally finished their work this week, the legislative session will likely be headed for a fast finish. Watching the indicators in the back halls and offices of the Capitol this week, they point to the legislative leaders busily identifying which bills will need to be taken care of in the last flurry of legislative activity. Essentially they are setting the table for the final rush, and because they finished the majority of the major funding bills early in the session, there is little work left to be done. The big issues they need to address are making about $155 million in cuts in the Health and Human Services budget and seeing if they can reach a compromise on the K-12 bill within the Legislature and with the Governor. They also need to pass a small tax bill to make minor adjustments for local governments, and there is a Viking Stadium proposal lurking somewhere behind the back doors of the Capitol.
It appears that these final issues are all teed up for quick action. In typical legislative fashion, they will need to identify a specific date on which they plan to end if they want to finish prior to the constitutional deadline of May 17. Once they’ve agreed on that date, you will see a flurry of activity. Given the schedules of the committees that have been announced, the soonest they could possibly finish would be the end of next week, but early deadlines are always a challenge for the Legislature to adhere to because of their propensity to debate. Their strong desire to get onto the campaign trail may actually make it possible to stay disciplined enough to finish early, but don’t bet the house on it.
In the midst of the upcoming legislative flurry that will occur once a deadline is set, there are several environmental issues still in play. The Complete Streets initiative was amended to the Omnibus Transportation Policy Bill (SF2540) in the Senate on Monday by our chief author Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick). This provides us with multiple avenues by which this legislation could become law just in case the Governor’s office is inclined to veto the bill. There has been no indication from his office that he will, but there has been no indication that he will sign it either. The Omnibus Transportation Bill should be prepared for conference committee action sometime by the middle of next week.
The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment bill is finally making progress in the House. HF3790 authored by Rep. Mary Murphy (DFL-Hermantown) has now made it through all of its committees and is awaiting action on the full House floor. The Senate has already passed their Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment proposals as part of the Senate Omnibus Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Bill (SF3275) authored by Sen. Ellen Anderson (DFL-St. Paul). The bills do not match up with each other in the legislative process. Therefore, legislative leaders will have to agree on how environment policy and Legacy Amendment issues will be resolved between the two bodies. This will also likely be sorted out sometime by the middle of next week.
Another major funding package for the environment is the proposal to spend the environment portion of the lottery funds whose appropriations are proposed by the Legislative and Citizens Commission on Minnesota’s Resources (LCCMR). The Senate honored the well-developed recommendations of the LCCMR when they passed their bill last week. Unfortunately, the House adopted an amendment from Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia), a former gubernatorial candidate, that diverted money recommended for critical habitat and restoration land purchases to other programs he deemed more likely to create jobs. This will be the central issue in the conference committee on the LCCMR bill (HF2624) which should start early next week. The Senate still has to appoint its conferees, but the Speaker already appointed the House conference committee members on Wednesday. The House appointees are Rep. Jean Wagenius (DFL-Minneapolis), Rep. Larry Howes (R-Walker) and Rukavina.
In addition to these bills, we can expect there to be a flurry of activity around energy proposals that could include attempted amendments to undo the moratoria on the construction of nuclear reactors and importation of new dirty coal electricity. There may also be attempts to modify environmental review and permitting policy that many of our groups will also be defending against. Therefore, strap on your seat belts – it should be a fast and rough ride through the month of May as we transition from the legislative session into one of the most important legislative and gubernatorial races in our state’s history.
As we make that transition into the election season, it is time for you to play your role in this grand experiment in self-governance. Your first opportunity to be educated and participate will be brought to you by MEP at the upcoming Living Green Expo. On Sunday at 1:00 p.m. outside the Grandstand on the State Fairgrounds, MEP, in conjunction with Supervalu, will host the first gubernatorial forum after the Republican and Democratic conventions. For more details go to http://2010cleanenergy.org/2010/04/governors-candidate-forum-on-clean-energy-clean-water-and-minnesotas-future/. We hope to see you there.
* There Is No November, Leon Oistad and David Hoium, Jeric Publishing, Inc, Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, 1991.
