editorials

It didn't take long for state employment officials to fault three MnDOT managers for lapses in their oversight of Sonia Pitt, the department's recently fired director of homeland security and emergency management.

Their discipline, including the three-day suspension of one and reprimands for two others, deserves widespread publicity, if for no other reason than to advise other government managers that laxity in accounting for the spending of taxpayer dollars will be detected and corrected. It evidently was too easy for Pitt to charge the public for personal travel and phone calls. But it's also been fairly simple for state government's accountability arms to swing into action when allegations of cheating were made. In the matter of Pitt, the Department of Employee Relations and the Office of the Legislative Auditor have shown their worth.

Twenty-five years ago, when then-Gov. Al Quie interviewed candidates for judicial positions, he often asked them to describe the difference between love and justice -- a tough question. Russell Anderson isn't quite sure how he answered. "But I must have done all right," Anderson recalls, because Quie appointed him a district court judge.

Anderson, now chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, last week bestowed on Quie the Chief Justice's Award of Excellence for service to the state's judiciary.

It's a richly deserved honor. Quie was the first governor to use a nonpartisan commission to make merit-based evaluations of would-be judges, a process that has since been codified in state law. That selection process is "at the heart of the high rankings Minnesota receives for the fairness of its courts, and the professionalism and integrity of its judiciary," Anderson said.

More recently, Quie headed a citizens' commission that recommended changes in the state's judicial elections to preserve their non-partisan character. Those recommendations are attracting national attention -- and deserve a hard look from the 2008 Legislature.

Word is that more that a few Minnesota communities were a little jealous when St. Paul was recognized for its devotion to hockey.

Dubbed Hockeytown U.S.A. by Sports Illustrated, St. Paul snatched the title from Detroit. According to SI writer Michael Farber, the sellout crowds for Wild games were not the only reason the Saintly City came out on top. Unlike other places that have held the crown, "hockey in St. Paul grows from the bottom up," he wrote.

That's the case in many metro and outstate hamlets. Infant and toddler Wild jerseys sell almost as well as adult sizes here. For many parents, "rink time'' is as much a part of the daily schedule as waking up. And there's a reason that the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Eveleth.

When it comes to hockey, all Minnesotans can be proud, bask in the glow of being No. 1 and take the credit. After all, we know the folks filling seats and cheering the Wild at the Xcel don't all come from St. Paul. Hockey lovers from Moorhead to Mankato helped bring the title to Minnesota where it belongs.