Pogemiller picks up state fiscal summit idea

By Lori Sturdevant

Last update: July 24, 2009 - 4:57 PM

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Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller is taking to heart a call on these pages Friday by former Repubilcan Gov. Arne Carlson and former Independence Party gubernatorial candidate Tim Penny for action this fall on the state's looming fiscal crisis. Late Friday, Pogemiller issued a release saying that he and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, both DFLers, would invite Gov. Tim Pawlenty, all living former governors, former House speakers and former Senate majority leaders to a summit meeting, on a date yet to be scheduled, to consider measures to avert a state deficit that could run to more than $7 billion in 2011.

Pogemiller, a legislator for 29 years, indicated that he took the lead in calling for a summit in part because "I'm not running for any other offices." Kelliher,by comparison, is exploring a gubnernatorial bid, as is former GOP House Speaker Steve Sviggum, who would be invited.

The meeting Pogemiller and Kelliher contemplate would be a rare bipartisan assembly of leadership talent, befitting a nearly unprecedented state fiscal situation. By applying more than $5 billion in one-time measures to closing a $6.4 billion budget gap this year, Pawlenty and the Legislature have pushed a huge financial problem forward to 2011 and beyond.

If nothing else, a summit such as the one the DFLers envision would attract public attention to the depth of the problem that confronts the state. With luck, it would help the state's 2010 voters understand that their political judgments will determine whether and how Minnesota can avoid a California-style state financial meltdown in years ahead.

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