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Lori Sturdevant: Citizens, officials: Can you still dance together?

Better connections between people and government could help get us back in the groove.

By LORI STURDEVANT, Star Tribune

Last update: May 10, 2008 - 4:39 PM

Minnesota turns 150 today with its buttons popping -- and not just from too much birthday cake. Pride runs deep here. It's something this native South Dakotan sensed in even her earliest forays east.

There's more to it than pride of place. We had that back home. It's also pride in the government and public institutions that pioneers started and citizens shaped through the generations. It's the belief that Minnesota government has been more honest, innovative and enlightened than most, and that the quality of life here is better for it.

History provides abundant support for that notion. But years of covering a gridlock-prone state government and problems that don't get solved have given me evidence to the contrary, too. Too often in recent years, government has seemed stuck.

I hear regularly from Minnesotans who perceive a change as well. They're worried: Is this state as good as we like to think it is? If it is, can it stay that way? Can Minnesota at 150 get its groove back?

Those questions have been examined for a few years now at the bipartisan Citizens League, this state's homegrown headquarters for citizen participation.

The league took a poll of 800 Minnesotans in September 2006 that moved it to action. Roughly half of those polled said they believed the state was on the wrong track. A third said government institutions "no longer work for the common good and need to be significantly changed." More than two of every five said most state elected officials "don't care what people like me think."

Picking up on that last point, the league started an online, nonscientific survey. With more than 550 responses in, it's getting pretty interesting. (See the chart on page OP5 for details.)

In sum: People say they are much more willing to contribute to the making of government decisions than officials think they are. They know that good decisions can't be made without them.

But they're tired of being invited to hearings or meetings that leave them feeling ignored, intimidated or both. They suspect (for good reason) that such sessions take place not so much to get their help in making a decision as to sell them on one that's already made.

Meanwhile, public officials accuse citizens of disinterest, self-interest and/or ignorance. As a result, they're missing opportunities to learn how their actions affect real people's lives.

That's a disconnect that can be bridged, say the can-do optimists at the league. All it takes is better ways for citizens and officials to come together. The Minnesota Anniversary Project 150, the league's birthday present to the state, has spawned several demonstrations that aim to show what's possible.

One of their efforts springs right off today's news from the Legislature. It's about the perennially detested property tax. Truth in Taxation hearings, the postelection gripe sessions that are supposed to help people understand and influence their tax bills, typically don't do either one.

What would? Clear, reliable information, for one thing. That's what the league provided for school districts with referenda last fall, at www.propertytaxfacts.mn. It attracted 5,000 hits in a single week. The information it provided armed people to effectively lobby their school boards, question their administrations, talk to their neighbors and cast informed votes. It should give them a good sense of the need for better state school-funding policies, too, and the tools they need to carry that case to the Capitol.

The league's demonstration projects are new, but they're rooted in something fundamental to this state. Many pioneers brought to this place the New England ideal of citizenship. They believed that every citizen matters, and that every citizen can and should contribute to building a strong state. Minnesota is 150 years old. For a state, that's young. There's still a lot of building to do.

Lori Sturdevant is a Star Tribune editorial writer and columnist. She is at lsturdevant@startribune.com.

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