Keith Downey: Jobs task force is stirring the wrong pot

Minnesotans have never shrunken from a challenge, and we are ready to rebuild our economy. But do we really need 36 politicians in St. Paul cooking up short-term state government job creation?

Unfortunately, that's the current edition of the House Jobs Task Force (of which I am a member).

Von Bismarck compared the law to sausage -- it is better not to see the end product being made. But Minnesotans should watch this task force closely. After two meetings it seems poised to do nothing, or worse, for the state's economic recovery.

At a time when state leaders should be working to improve our business climate and should be relying on our dynamic businesses and talented workforce to create jobs, instead the task force is holding hearings on government-grown jobs, including a jumbo state bonding "stimulus" bill.

More government is not the answer. Our state has a proud legacy of business innovation, education excellence and quality of life that has fueled prosperity. But undisciplined state spending and government interference is putting it all at risk.

State government has its constitutional role, but it has been growing twice as fast as the economy. Just think: If state spending had grown at the healthy rate of inflation plus population growth for the past 20 years, our biennial budget would be $10 billion smaller today, with a surplus, not deficits.

As it is, Minnesota ranks eighth-highest nationally in per capita state and local tax burden. Our overall business tax ranking is ninth highest. State government is now the largest employer in Minnesota, and deficits loom as far as the eye can see.

Taxes and government barriers aren't everything, but even with our state's tremendous assets, businesses are voting with their feet. According to the Edward Lowe Foundation, from 1998 to 2007, 1,099 more businesses moved out of Minnesota than moved in. Only five other states lost businesses at a higher rate. And the growing trend of our homegrown Fortune 100 companies expanding outside Minnesota is alarming, especially given their philanthropic commitment to our state.

A friend once told his son, "In everything there's a hard way and an easy way, and the right way is almost always the hard way."

There is a better way to a bright future in Minnesota. We can reform government in a way that advances our legacy. And we can regain our state's leading position in attracting and retaining private-sector jobs. It's hard work, but I know we can do it.

We need to start now. Not with short-term government Band-Aids -- Minnesota businesses don't need gimmicks, handouts or corporate welfare -- but with a level playing field.

We have to get down to the tough issues of tax reform and reduced government interference. In the longer term, we need to close our achievement gap, control dramatically increasing costs in health and human services, and renew local institutions by reducing the size and control of state government.

To turn the House Jobs Task Force around to address these real jobs challenges in Minnesota, I have asked its cochairs -- and the speaker of the House, who convened it -- to act on three key changes:

•First, because there is no such thing as "short-term" in government, the task force should change its focus to the hard work of long-term reforms with lasting benefit.

•Second, with federal spending and deficits out of control, what job providers need most from state government is fiscal restraint to fix our own budget issues, not more spending.

•Third, the task force needs an actual plan for how it will develop its recommendations with the full House, the Senate and the governor. It does not have one.

Clearly the challenge is bigger than any committee, bigger than the Legislature, bigger than government. With these changes, though, our task force could serve as an important catalyst.

It must do more than hold hearings in swing political districts. And it must become more than just a credential on the campaign flyers of vulnerable politicians who voted for big tax increases last session.

If the House Jobs Task Force will not take up this challenge, the speaker should disband it immediately.

Keith Downey, a Republican from Edina, represents District 41 in the Minnesota House.