Members of a legislative budget commission met for the fourth time Wednesday, for the first time moving past their shopworn soundbites as they picked through the details of Gov. Mark Dayton's just-released plan to shut down state government if a budget deal isn't reached by July 1.

And in something of a role reversal, Republicans -- whose budget-balancing strategy relies entirely on spending cuts -- accused the Democratic governor of proposing the shuttering of government services that will deprive Minnesotans of essential services. They cited his plans to shut off the flow of aid to public schools and halt payments to health and human services providers.

"Whose budget is more draconian," demanded Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, using the word Dayton has often employed to describe the GOP's spending cuts; she called his shutdown plan "complete hypocracy."

Jim Schowalter, commissioner of the state's management and budget office, explained to commission members that "the potential shutdown today is much broader" than in 2005, when a partial government shutdown lasted nine days. "We've tried to learn from both" that shutdown and one in 2001 that was narrowly averted with hours to spare, Schowalter said.

House Majority Leader Matt Dean, R-Dellwood, called plans to suspend payments to health providers "quite breathtaking. "I find it stunning that if your top priority is [protecting] life [and] safety that we are not going to pay people who take care of folks in nursing homes or when they show up at our hospitals as we did in our previous shutdown," he said.

After the commission meeting House Minority Leader Paul Thissen returned Dean's fire. "I am stunned about the Republicans' concern about the delay in the delivery of certain government services as a result of the shutdown, but have shown absolutely no concern about permanently and devastatingly cutting those same services," he said. The GOP's health and human services cuts "are what I would call breathtaking," Thissen said,

Republicans also used the hearing to resume their drumbeat of criticism of Dayton's negotiating style, complaining that he has remained aloof from the process.

"We had a meeting a week ago, I guess, and the governor didn't attend that," said Rep. Keith Downey, R-Edina. "I'm just curious in the last week, the last couple days, do you have any information you can provide to us[about] how many meetings the governor has actually been in on the shutdown versus how many meetings the governor has been in on the detailed grunt work of negotiating a budget agreement versus how many meetings the governor has been in on the Vikings stadium?

"That might be telling to us [to show] where the governor's priorities are, based on where he's spending his time."

Schowalter replied, "the issue of the governor's calendar -- I don't have the governor's calendar. He's certainly been involved in the budget discussions along the way."

Referring to the courtfiling Dayton made Wednesday and his meeting Tuesday with Vikings owners, Downey added, "clearly shutting down trhe government and finding a solution to the Vikings stadium are consuming a lot of the governor's time."