editorials

A rare gathering of Minnesota elder statesfolk is set for the Capitol today. Three former governors -- one DFLer, two Republicans -- three former Senate majority leaders and six former House speakers -- all but one of them DFLers -- will assemble at 10 a.m. for four hours of closed-door deliberation on the sorry condition of the state budget, and how best to set it right.

It's disappointing that the doors will be closed, even though that move comes at the insistence of a former governor whose call to action inspired the meeting, GOP Gov. Arne Carlson. This unusual event, arranged by the House and Senate's current DFL leaders, signals a level of trouble in state affairs deeper than many Minnesotans now fathom. It's a problem with serious implications for this state's prosperity. It needs to be widely understood.

The real value in today's meeting likely lies not in its potential to recommend action to the 2010 Legislature. The deep philosophical divide that separates the DFL-controlled Legislature and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty isn't likely to be bridged, even by suggestions bearing former governors' bipartisan stamp.

Pawlenty's open scorn for today's meeting and refusal to participate, and former GOP House Speaker Steve Sviggum's turnabout after initially accepting the invitation (he's a member of Pawlenty's cabinet), erode chances that today's meeting will initiate policy changes in the near term.

Pawlenty is going so far as to schedule a competing public event for 2 p.m., the hour at which the former governors are scheduled to brief reporters on their meeting. It was announced on Friday that Pawlenty and several of his commissioners will participate at an economic roundtable discussion at Eaton Corp. in Eden Prairie, to discuss ways to stimulate Minnesota's economy.

Pawlenty has chosen a worthy topic, with "gotcha" timing. It ought not detract from the opportunity for respected former leaders to inform their fellow citizens about the impending money crisis the state faces, and to call Minnesotans to engagement in solving the problem.

These former officeholders are no longer vying in the next election, and carry no brief for any special interest group. Their concern about the future of services critical to Minnesota's economy -- education, infrastructure, public safety, public health and more -- deserves attention, especially by those who discount pronouncements by current officeholders as so much political rhetoric. As these former leaders know well, real power lies with the people. If they help bring that power to bear on the looming state budget issue, they'll burnish their already illustrious records of service to this state.