Good for Arne Carlson and Tim Penny. On July 24, the former Republican governor and former DFL congressman and Independence Party gubernatorial candidate called on these pages for quick action by the governor and Legislature to avert, or at least ease, an impending fiscal crisis for state and local government.

They noted that legislative analysts' projections put the gap between expected state revenues and forecast program costs in 2012-13 at more than $7 billion. That's more than a 20 percent hole for the 2011 Legislature to fill. (The $7 billion figure assumes that all one-time measures taken to balance the budget for this biennium will indeed be one-time, which may not be the case.)

The Carlson-Penny summons to action has led the Legislature's DFL leaders, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, to invite GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty and all living former governors and legislative leaders to a Sept. 8 meeting.

The goal envisioned for the assemblage, according to the letter of invitation, is the development of "a roadmap toward long-term balance in the state's budget and sustainable growth in the state's economy."

Such lofty ambition is laudable, but likely not realistic. There have been instances in local history when putting the right wise heads together accomplished great things. The origins of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota's major-league sports franchises and the Nicollet Mall can be traced to such gatherings.

But civic decisionmaking today seldom works that way. These are more egalitarian, democratic times. Stewardship of the public square is no longer seen as the privilege of a chosen few but as the shared responsibility of many.

That change does not invalidate a gathering such as the legislative leaders propose. But it should alter the meeting's mission and the expectations that surround it. Rather than expecting retired state leaders to devise a state fiscal rescue plan that would win quick support, legislative leaders would do well to invite them to participate in increasing public awareness and understanding of the financial fix in which state and local governments find themselves.

And to be worthwhile and credible, the meeting must truly be bipartisan, with shared expectations about the ground rules and goals. Minnesotans will have little patience for a one-sided discussion of possible solutions or a critique of the last legislative session. To that end, current GOP legislative leaders must be at the table.

Our hunch is that most Minnesotans are not fully aware of the severity of their governments' money trouble. Many likely don't realize that the red ink is not just the result of the recession and won't magically disappear when the economy recovers.

A bipartisan panel of experts concluded earlier this year that as much as 40 percent of the state deficit then forecast for 2010-11 had nothing to do with the recession. It was the consequence of tax and spending policies chosen by the state over the past 20 years. And since the 2010-11 deficit was erased largely with one-time measures, it will be back in two years, with a vengeance.

By widening and deepening public understanding of this problem, past and present leaders can help position the next governor and Legislature to solve it.

The new governor and Legislature in 2011 will need the springboard to action that a vigorous public discussion during the coming campaign can provide. If the elder statesfolk can also achieve consensus around a strategy to remedy the situation and offer it to the public for discussion, so much the better.

Last week, Pogemiller reported a good response to his invitation. That speaks well of the former leaders' abiding devotion to this state.

We trust they will be willing to open their Sept. 8 proceedings to the public and to lend their good names to an invitation to all Minnesotans: Get informed about your government's money problem and how it affects you. And get involved, by electing candidates who favor sound solutions.