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House Speaker decries governor's budget-cut process
Despite questioning the use of the unallotment process, House Speaker Kelliher said she's not pushing legal action.
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House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher said Thursday that Gov. Tim Pawlenty is continuing to keep her in the dark about his budget-cutting plans but added that she is not leading a drive to legally challenge the governor's controversial use of the so-called unallotment process to make the cuts.
However, Kelliher, who said she has not spoken to the governor since the legislative session ended more than three weeks ago, acknowledged that she has presided over a series of meetings with special interest groups, some of which said they are exploring possible legal action against Pawlenty.
Kelliher said Pawlenty's top budget official, Management and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson, has indicated that he wants to schedule a meeting of the Legislative Advisory Commission, which needs to be consulted about unallotment. Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, said she believes the Republican governor could announce his budget-cutting proposal as early as late next week.
Thursday's developments were more evidence that DFL leaders, along with groups such as the Minnesota Hospital Association, whose members are expected to be affected by unallotment, were still searching for a counterpunch to Pawlenty's surprise announcement in the last days of the session that he would make unilateral cuts unless a budget compromise was reached with the DFL.
No deal was reached before the Legislature adjourned May 18, and Pawlenty will act on his own to plug a remaining $2.7 billion hole for the two-year period that begins July 1.
Debating his reach
Spokespersons for the League of Minnesota Cities, as well as the 147-member hospital association, said that both groups had been meeting with Kelliher and that they were continuing to study possible legal action centered on whether Pawlenty had overstepped his constitutional authority in resorting to unallotment.
"We are really only in a very preliminary, exploratory stage," said Jim Miller, executive director of the League of Minnesota Cities, which has more than 800 members statewide.
While Kelliher said she was not pushing groups to take legal action, she said the question of whether the governor was misusing the unallotment process was being heavily debated.
"I don't think I'm urging people to do it," said Kelliher, who has been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2010.
"I think there is a definite question around whether the governor has stretched the unallotment statute further than it was originally meant to be used for," she said.
Kelliher added that "many people" have questioned whether Pawlenty, in turning to a budgetary tool that some contend is intended for use in shorter-term emergency situations, made the move to avoid having to compromise with the DFL-controlled House and Senate on tax-increase proposals they were pushing as part of the budget solution.
Mike Kaszuba • 651-222-1673
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Current state office holders
Governor: Tim Pawlenty
One of only a few prominent Republicans to win a competitive re-election contest in the Democratic sweep of 2006, Tim Pawlenty is widely seen as politically shrewd and naturally likable.
- Lt. Governor: Carol Molnau
- Secretary of State: Mark Ritchie
- Attorney General: Lori Swanson
- State Auditor: Rebecca Otto
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