Tim Pawlenty

A preliminary evaluation

I have but one goal when it comes to politics: move public policy to the right. That’s it. I don’t care about prestige, party, argumentation, public relations, polls or anything else you can tack onto a resume. I try to look at the world in the longterm. The Roman Republic survived barely 500 years before it turned into an empire. I’d like this Republic to last a little longer. This means strength of economy, military and a steadfast patriotic culture.

No one, single election is going to destroy the future of the Republic. Bush I raises taxes? Fine, don’t vote for him and allow someone like Clinton to win. It’s not disastrous, in fact it took defeats for Bush and Dole to pave the way for Bush II, who lowered taxes. Was it worth 8 years of Clinton to get a tax cut? I think so, I’d certainly prefer having a Republican who would cut taxes in office, but Republicans like Dole and Bush I showed themselves incapable of being reliable enough to get tax cuts. Their losses and the success of tax cutters like Reagan and Bush II help keep the left leaning side of the GOP under control. I am loyal to the GOP only as long as public policy gets moved to the right (or even simply having public policy not move at all, a goal for most MNGOPers).

(There is also a case to be made for the GOP in that no matter what happens, the government will continue to get bigger and burdensome, but that at least the GOP slows this down, therefore always vote GOP. This argument has its strong points and its flaws. It’s too big a topic to go into here. Maybe a later post.)

It is in this light that I’d like to take a look at Tim Pawlenty and his record as governor. I’m taking bits and pieces from Tim Pawlenty’s website and I’ll insert bits and pieces of anti-Pawlenty points which I get every week from Tony G.

First, the economy. Pawlenty brags on his website:

75,000 new jobs! Not just more jobs. Better jobs.

From the numbers I’ve seen on King Banaian’s website and Captain Capitalism’s website, this is true. Unemployment is down in Minnesota. I don’t know if it’s on par with other states, nor do I know if the “Better Jobs” thing is true. But hey, a job is better than no job.

Opposed tax increases that would have stunted job growth in Minnesota.

I go back and forth on this. Yes, he didn’t raise state income taxes, nor gas taxes nor sales taxes…except for that Twins Stadium deal. That raised taxes and in the end will result in some lower wage jobs and some lost jobs. The tobacco tax thing I can forgive Pawlenty for. I don’t like it, but it was necessary to get the government shutdown over with (while I liked the government shutdown, it’s an electoral nightmare which can result in a lower election chances).

Signed “Joint and Several Liability” tort reform into law to make Minnesota a fairer place to do business.

This is a huge plus in my mind.

Helping expedite Medtronic’s new cardiac division – the largest Medtronic campus in the world – creating 2,000 jobs, averaging $70,000 per year.

Total BS, the government does not create jobs. It redistributes money from person to person or group to group with tremendous overhead and deadweight loss.

Supported and passed a new Air Cargo Distribution Center in Dakota County that will create thousands of high-paying jobs and substantially increase direct cargo flights from MSP to international locations, making Minnesota a major transportation hub.

Maybe. It’s infrastructure, and I’m pro infrastructure, but it’s a maybe.

So, it’s a mixed bag when in comes to the economy. I think the unemployment numbers are enough to give Pawlenty an approval stamp.

Education

Ugh:

Expanded access and increased funding for Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) Programs.

Developed a funding formula for online learning, another school choice option for Minnesota public and non-public students.

Helped to start a new higher education institution in Rochester, with an emphasis on medicine, business and technology.

Funded an innovative partnership between the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic for bio tech research.

Created Centers of Excellence programs in state colleges and universities to build on Minnesota’s economic strengths such as manufacturing technology, science, engineering, and health care.

Provided an additional $40 million for Minnesota State Grants to help students pay for higher education.

I have never been convinced (i.e. shown actual numbers, been given empirical evidence) that spending more money on education results in either a better economy nor even in smarter students. The numbers I have seen show that there is some evidence to suggest technical skills can increase with proper training, but I’d love to see economic correlations between public subsidy on education and GDP before we start “investing” in education.

Of course, the spending is only half the story:

Repealed the Profile of Learning and raised the bar on education with: Minnesota Academic Standards – rigorous academic requirements for math, reading, science, social studies and arts.

Created QComp – the nation-leading performance pay reform linking teacher compensation to classroom and student achievement, not seniority.

Signed legislation requiring the Pledge of Allegiance in Minnesota’s public schools.

Achieved Get Ready, Get Credit – a new school-choice option that enables high school students to earn college credit – saving parents money in future tuition fees.

All those are excellent. Teachers’ pay linked to performance, school choice, the Pledge, giving bright students greter opportunities to get away from the “convoy” theory of the public schools. Excellent. Pawlenty has done the Solomon thing and split the education issue between spending and performance. It’s a wash.

Health Care

Ugh:

Developed the nation-leading RxConnect website to allow Minnesotans access to more affordable prescription drugs from Canada and the United Kingdom.

Every time people talk about lowering the cost of prescription drugs, I think about the drugs that won’t get made because drug companies will have lower revenues and thus less money to invest in research and development. In the long run this seems like a very bad enterprise in which to partake.

Good stuff:

Made Health Savings Accounts work on the state level – the new future of health care for Minnesotans.

Good idea.

Protected patients by requiring medical error reporting in Minnesota hospitals for the first time.

It might be more red tape but it’s something I’d like to know about my hospital.

“Taking it to big Pharma” as Pawlenty spokesmen Brian McClung would say is the biggest strike against TPaw yet. It’s the first one, and it’s huge in my mind. This is an attitude I’d like to purge from the party simply because it is so destructive. This is the first thing that has moved me towards supporting Sue Jeffers into the September primary.

Agriculture

Ugh:

Established Minnesota as America’s “Renewable Fuels Capitol”

Doubled the amount of ethanol to be used in Minnesota’s gasoline from 10% to 20%.

Implemented the nation’s first bio-diesel requirement, blending 2% soy-based fuel with all diesel fuel.

Ordered fuels such as E85 to be used in all state vehicles

Chaired the national Governor’s Ethanol Coalition.

(insert screaming here). I’m not a fan of the government interfering with the market. Encouraging ethanol use before it becomes economically viable is a bad idea.

Good stuff:

Commissioned the Livestock Advisory Task Force to strengthen the economic health of Minnesota’s $10 billion livestock industry. Promoted their suggestions such as; tax credits and financial incentives to encourage on-farm investment and education, outreach programs, and reform of the permit process.

Cut taxes (sorta) and cut red tape. Got it.

Ethanol is nothing but a huge subsidy to Minnesota farmers. I wish the government would give huge ass subsudies to antiques/collectibles dealers or radio talk show hosts. But they don’t, and niether should they give subsidies to farmers. Ugh.

Huge strike two.

Crime

Sweet:

Proposed and signed the most comprehensive crime bill in modern Minnesota history, including:

Tougher penalties for meth offenders, more resources to enforce meth laws and aggressive restrictions on methamphetamine-making materials plus strict new standards to clean up meth sites.

Better tracking and tougher penalties for sex offenders, including life in prison for the worse offenders, with no possibility of release.

Fighting identity theft with dramatic increase in funding for the Financial Crimes Task Force.

Combined and strengthened the Gang and Drug Strike Forces.

Introduced America’s most secure, tamper-resistant driver’s licenses.

Supported statewide standardized training and background checks for law-abiding citizen to carry firearms.

Put prisoners to work cleaning Minnesota’s highways.

Improved radio system communications between law enforcement and other emergency responders. Expanded the 911 Public Safety Radio System statewide.

Introduced double-bunking at over-crowded prisons and preparing for a major expansion of the Faribault prison.

Streamlining prison administration by eliminating duplicate tasks.

Yes! This makes up for most of the Ethanol BS. Most…

Energy and Environment

Ugh.

Let’s not go here.

Transportation

Proposed a 10 year, $7 billion transportation investment program to accelerate dozens of major highway and transit projects.

Approved $900 million in critical, long-delayed, funding to state highway and bridge projects – the largest infusion of transportation funding in Minnesota’s history.

Led efforts to fund Northstar Commuter Rail Line.

Good.

Final Thoughts

Pawlenty is maddening. He has balanced the budget, funded roads, fought crime while not raising taxes (except for cigarette taxes and a small sales tax increase in one county, both of which are forgivable) and been the best governor we in Minnesota have had in a long time. He’s socially conservative and helped Minnesota become part of a nationwide trend in allowing its citizens to actually defend themselves through conceal and carry reform.

He’s also played up the liberal rhetoric regarding pharmacuetical companies, the environment and “big oil.” He’s gone back on campaign promises and has never been able to articulate his political beliefs in a convincing manner. He could be anything from a “right wing Christian nut” to an “anti-corporation neo-hippie.”

I didn’t think it would actually end up this way, but I’ve almost talked myself into supporting Jeffers in the primary. I don’t know. I’m certainly not as big a supporter as I was before I looked at TPaw’s website.

I need to remind myslef that Pawlenty has accomplished the impossible in a hostile work environment. The State Senate is controlled by Democrats, and the State House is basically controlled by Democrats (The GOP has a one seat advantage in the housem and with all the RINOs in the House it’s a GOP coalition easy enough to crack). Pawlenty has had no help from the legislature, therefore I’m still inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Barely.