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Democrats say it's up to Pawlenty to revive rail money
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ST. PAUL - Advocates of Minneapolis-to-St. Paul passenger rail vented Tuesday over Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of state financing for the project and said it's up to him to keep the line from withering.
Democratic elected officials from the local, state and federal levels ramped up their criticism of Pawlenty for stripping $70 million out of a bonding bill for the Central Corridor light rail project.
They dismissed the notion that they could override the line-item veto or have local governments front the money the state was expected to commit to the $909 million line.
"There is one person who has this project in their hands and that's the governor," said St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. "He either fixes this project or he kills it. It's not up to anyone else."
Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin said Minnesota could miss out on $450 million or more — half of the line's construction cost — in federal money if the state doesn't have its contribution to the project firmed up by September.
"There's smiling this morning in Sacramento, in Miami, in Charlotte, in Salt Lake City and the 20 or so other regions around the country that are competing with Central Corridor because they've seen the governor pull the legs out from Central Corridor," he said.
The transit line veto was one of 52 items Pawlenty struck from a $925 million borrowing plan, bringing the bill's size down to $717 million. He had warned lawmakers the bill they sent him was too large and projects dear to them could suffer as a result.
Ironically, the $70 million was part of borrowing proposals put forward by the governor and both chambers of the Legislature. The money could figure into end-of-session negotiations.
On WCCO-AM on Tuesday, the Republican governor said he wanted to do more analysis of the immediate and long-term costs of the project to the state. He left the door open to reviving state financing for the line later this session.
"Well, it may come back, we'll see," Pawlenty said.
Rep. Michael Paymar, a St. Paul Democrat, said he's not ready to declare the project dead — even if many of those surrounding him at a Capitol news conference did.
"I want to be optimistic about this," he said. "There's too much riding on this for the metropolitan area and the state of Minnesota."
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