Path to special session is a tricky one

Shaken by a traumatic series of disasters in the state, still smarting from bruising battles in the regular legislative session, and with partisan passions rising heading into a major election next year, Gov. Tim Pawlenty and DFL leaders will try again this week to agree on plans for a special session that could feature an abnormally large and contentious agenda.

A tax bill, a transportation bill and a bonding bill are all likely to come up in a special session that could be called for late September. Skirmishes could break out simultaneously between Republicans and DFLers; rural and metro legislators; southern Minnesota and the Iron Range.

Only the governor can call a special session, while only the Legislature can end it once it has begun. After meeting with legislative leaders last week, Pawlenty said agreement existed on "some general understanding of the need for a special session." But he continues to seek a limited agenda, along with many GOP legislators.

"Any special session should be confined to addressing immediate needs," said Rep. Chris DeLaForest, R-Andover.

"Otherwise there's a great risk of a chaotic free-for-all," DeLaForest added.

Pawlenty may have learned a lesson on the importance of controlling a special session two years ago. He called legislators back in 2005 to deal with a government shutdown almost immediately after the regular session adjourned. That special session dragged on until July 13, giving House and Senate DFL leaders a month to beat up on him.

Lobbyists are ready

Lobbyists already have been wandering the Capitol halls and hitting the BlackBerrys to push their pet issues. The lobbyist representing bars and bowling alleys, for instance, is urging legislators to consider resurrecting a bill to allow for electronic pulltabs, dangling the promise of more than $800 million in revenues as a way to side step a gas-tax increase.

But the bridge collapse and the southeastern Minnesota floods are disasters with an incredible emotional tug.

Both the governor and the Legislature run the risk of looking impotent or indifferent in the public's eyes if they fail to take action on flood damage and bridge maintenance.

"Avoiding a special session at this time would be a political move, not in the best interest of Minnesotans and our children who will be riding in buses on our state's roads in just two weeks," wrote Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, in a newspaper commentary last week.

Pawlenty does have broad executive powers to respond to the emergencies himself, even without input from the Legislature. But a special session could have advantages from his point of view.

The Legislature passed a transportation bill with a gas-tax increase in it earlier this year. Pawlenty vetoed it. The Legislature could return in regular session in February and pass a new transportation bill with a gas-tax increase of their choosing, confronting Pawlenty with a politically risky choice.

But with everyone under pressure to act sooner in special session, Pawlenty might be able to negotiate the sort of "reasonable gas-tax increase" that he said he wanted in a private letter to legislative leaders last week. Signing that now might put him in a better position to resist proposals for larger tax increases next year.

The House Republican minority's position is that it is too early to know whether a special session is needed. But Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem's district is in southern Minnesota and vocal Senate Republican Dick Day is running for Congress in the south, adding impetus to some legislators to give the impression that something is getting done. House DFLers have just won hard-fought seats in southern districts and want to keep them.

The biggest obstacle on the road to a special session may be a shortage of trust between Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, and Pawlenty. They have not mended fences since the 2007 session, particularly over who broke what agreements leading to a vetoed tax bill that left priorities of both parties unmet.

Closed-door session

While all was calm when Pawlenty, Pogemiller and other leaders emerged from a meeting last week over the possible parameters of a special session, there reportedly had been heated words between the two during the closed-door session.

The collapsed bridge is in Pogemiller's district, and he has been hearing from his constituents at community meetings about everything from motorists driving through neighborhoods trying to get to the other side of the river to what to do about collapsed bike paths.

The surprise resignation last week of Health Commissioner Diane Mandernach -- who had been battered over her suppression of information on miners' cancer deaths -- brought back to the surface Iron Range DFLers' bitter distrust of Pawlenty.

"You wonder how many other things are going on in this administration that need attention and are being ignored," said Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, after Mandernach's announcement. "Who knows what else is collapsing around us?"

But Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, who supports the idea of a special session, said he hopes the urgency of the state's needs will make agreement possible.

"The wish is for this tragedy to push for something to happen," he said. "At some point, you've got to put down the politics and accomplish what the people think we're working on."

Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636

Mark Brunswick • mbrunswick@startribune.com