PAWLENTY'S PLAN

A reasonable solution

Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed a bonding bill that primarily focuses on fixing what we have instead of expanding government. With raising the gas tax, the DFL wants to expand government and build a bunch of new things that look good on campaign literature.

Under the DFL method, with a possible recession in the future, lower- and middle-income Minnesotans will have to pay more for gas out of their already tight budgets and businesses will have increased costs, which will make them less competitive.

Should the state be taking on more government programs and expanding the tax burden going into a recession?

GARY FISCHBACH, ST. PAUL

He has no vision It is amazing to me that a Republican governor proposes that we borrow our way out of the trouble caused by poor management of transportation. What happened to "pay as you go?"

Gov. Tim Pawlenty made his vision known when he appointed the lieutenant governor to lead the Department of Transportation. The Legislature gave him a bipartisan bill with the first gas-tax increase in 20 years, and he vetoed it.

We need a Legislature with the guts to override his veto of a gas-tax increase so some of the bonding money can go to other important state needs, such as higher education.

KAY KRAMER, MINNEAPOLIS

Shifting the burden Gov. Tim Pawlenty has once again violated his pledge not to raise taxes.

First, he pushed the responsibility off to the municipalities, with cuts to state aid. Now he has issued record-breaking bonding requests in order to tax our children.

Pawlenty pledged not to raise taxes, but all he has done is dodge the responsibility for doing so through accounting gimmickry and credit-card governance.

ROBERT ALBERTI, MINNEAPOLIS

ELECTION '08

Shortchanging Edwards

A "Drawn and Quartered" cartoon in the Jan. 13 Opinion Exchange section shows Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton proclaiming "Change!" while John Edwards begs for spare change.

Ironic, isn't it, that Edwards is working for change while Clinton represents the status quo? And the source of Edwards' "spare change" is individual voters digging deep into their resources to create change. Edwards is not taking contributions from big lobbyists; Obama and Clinton are.

BARBARA SARAPAS, ST. PAUL

'REAGAN ROOTS'

Taxes for stadiums?

I read Andy Brehm's Jan. 12 commentary, "Republicans must return to their Reagan roots," and found it interesting -- but not because of the topic. It contained the usual stuff that Republicans claim they stand for: limited government, lower taxes and "responsible spending."

What I found odd is that it was written by Andy Brehm, who had been a strong supporter of raising taxes to subsidize a new ballpark for the Minnesota Twins and had written on these pages that a new stadium for the Vikings owner (at a cost of nearly a billion dollars) is a good idea.

Is raising taxes by $1.1 billion over 30 years for one building to benefit a billionaire considered "responsible spending?" Shouldn't it be the team owner's "individual responsibility" to fund his for-profit business? Is this huge government giveaway considered one of the "market-based" solutions about which Brehm opines?

Now he whines about wasteful government spending. I think a huge majority of taxpayers -- Republicans and Democrats -- would put stadium subsidies in that wasteful category. I don't think Brehm should be criticizing other Republicans or anyone else about responsible government spending.

LAURA J. LEHMANN, EDINA

CAUCUS NIGHT

What's the point?

According to your Jan. 9 editorial, "In coming weeks, Minnesotans should hear enough about caucusing to overcome persistent suspicion that it's a complicated activity, or a game stacked in favor of insiders."

Well, I have not heard anything yet. I did attend a caucus meeting in Minneapolis some years ago. "Complicated" does not really describe my experience -- try time-consuming, boring and ultimately pointless.

After hours of blah, blah and blah, we huddled in various parts of the room to indicate our preferences. Volunteers in the various huddles were selected to go on to the next meeting (precinct-level? city-level? county-level? district-level?) where they would select volunteers for the next meeting and so on and so on. And since the volunteers at the various levels may or may not have been committed to particular candidates, let's just say the game seemed to be stacked in favor of folks with enthusiasm, stamina and perhaps too much time on their hands.

Did I miss something? Has something changed? I am waiting to be enlightened.

MORRIS STOCKBURGER, MINNEAPOLIS

DISTRICT 25 ELECTION

Students didn't decide it

A Jan. 9 letter writer suggested that college students in Northfield had "likely handed the DFL the District 25 Senate seat" and questioned whether students' voting in such elections is good representative democracy. A Jan. 11 letter writer convincingly debunked the latter thesis.

But more is true. By the official record, the total vote in the four Northfield wards with significant student populations (but also many nonstudent voters) was about 400 for the Republican and 1,475 for the DFLer. That's a large margin, but it's not even close to the 1,600-vote DFL margin for the total election.

In other words, the DFL candidate would still have won handily even if no student had voted.

PAUL ZORN, NORTHFIELD, MINN.

FACEBOOK CONTROVERSY

A life lesson

I have been reading with great amusement the teenage crisis unfolding at Eden Prairie High School regarding the shocking -- shocking -- consequences the kids face for the clearly underage drinking shown on Facebook.

Imagine the horror the kids face -- having been caught in irresponsible and illegal activities, they now face the awful truth that they won't be able to play games. Gasp! Their pain must be gut-wrenching.

Imagine how they will feel in four or five years when they realize that a rapidly growing number of professional employers (and colleges, for that matter) are routinely searching sites like Facebook and MySpace for evidence of activity with which they would rather not be associated? "Stellar resume? Check. High GPA? Check. Evidence of illegal activity, underage drinking, topless partying on Spring Break? Oh. I'm sorry. That position has been filled by someone more responsible and less likely to embarrass our company."

At that point they can scream and protest to their heart's content. Unfortunately, when that time comes they will be truly adult members of society and no one will care about their pain.

You make choices, you live with consequences. Period.

MATTHEW NATHAN CASTENS,

NEW HOPE