Ambitious DFL plans to improve Minnesota's schools and roads could be wrecked by the sudden, startling public feud that has erupted between Gov. Mark Dayton and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk over large pay raises for state commissioners.
Sen. Barb Goodwin is among the DFL lawmakers saying now that the state's top two Democrats need to repair their broken relationship quickly if they expect to get vital work done at the Capitol this legislative session.
"It's like a marriage — to make it work you have to communicate with each other," Goodwin said. The Columbia Heights senator was among a group of DFL senators to meet privately with Dayton just before he laid into Bakk at a Thursday news conference. "The communication between the governor and Senator Bakk is going to have to improve, if we're all going to do the things we want to do this session."
Dayton and Senate DFLers had high hopes for this session. Their plans included tapping a $1 billion projected state surplus to improve schools and early learning programs, make major investments in rebuilding roads and bridges, expand transit, provide mandatory sick leave for workers and address other progressive priorities.
The civil war that exploded into public view Thursday calls into serious doubt whether they can achieve the unity needed to realize those goals, particularly with the GOP back in control of the House and determined to make its own mark.
Dayton's ire rose after the Senate voted 63-2 Thursday for a surprise Bakk amendment to delay the pay raises to the 23 Cabinet commissioners until July 1. Dayton said the sizable raises were needed to make the salaries competitive with other states, but they provoked anger that had been simmering for a week. House Republicans were the first to act, moving to roll back raises for three commissioners. When the bill came to the Senate, Bakk called for a delay on all the raises, saying lawmakers and the public needed time to deliberate.
A "blindsided" Dayton summoned DFL senators to make his displeasure known.
"I've never seen the governor angry like that," Goodwin said. Immediately after that meeting, Dayton aired his grievances to a room of reporters and TV cameras, calling Bakk "conniving" and saying the Senate leader "stabbed me in the back." Dayton announced that he would no longer meet with or talk to Bakk unless witnesses were present and that he now trusted the Republican House speaker more than his Senate majority leader.
A deal falls apart
Dayton's decision on the pay raises stemmed from a 2013 decision by the Legislature that gave him the legal authority to act on his own.
The raises came up at a private meeting Wednesday morning among Dayton, Bakk and several other top DFL lawmakers, according to two sources close to the discussions. Hoping to defuse the growing controversy, Dayton offered to support the move by House Republicans to subtract about $40,000 from an emergency spending bill as a way to partly offset the $800,000 in total yearly increases he'd granted his commissioners. To get that bill passed, Dayton also offered to back down from repeated threats to veto an unrelated bill — a measure with broad bipartisan support to block the Minnesota Lottery from selling tickets online and at gas pumps.
Dayton thought the deal was locked down until Thursday, when Bakk successfully amended the Senate's version of the stopgap spending bill to temporarily strip Dayton of his authority to raise Cabinet salaries.
Bakk, who headed home to Cook shortly after the amendment passed, has so far declined interviews on the subject. Through a spokeswoman he said he would not discuss private conversations between himself and the governor.
A number of Senate DFLers say they're flummoxed by the turn of events, adding that they were unaware of Dayton's opposition to delaying the raises. "There wasn't a food fight over this on the floor on Thursday, so that tells me everything was sort of in step with this," said Sen. Roger Reinert, DFL-Duluth. "I think many, including myself, were surprised that this rift erupted over it."
Sen. Kevin Dahle, DFL-Northfield, was under the impression that Bakk and Dayton had reached an accord when he voted for the amendment, although he stressed he never heard Bakk say that directly.
"I know the governor knows the importance of moving forward and I believe tempers will fade," said Dahle, adding that he personally saw political wisdom in delaying the raises. All 67 state senators are on the ballot in November 2016, along with the 134-member House.
Dayton and Bakk have been allies on most major DFL initiatives at the Capitol for the past four years, although tensions occasionally have flared publicly in a relationship that some describe as not particularly warm. Last year, Dayton called a news conference to blast Senate Democrats for not moving quickly enough to pass a tax bill he considered urgent.
"I'd say it's been a pattern," said Senate President Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul. "I think there's wishful thinking from both of them, that they both want the other person to agree with them, and probably a little too much testosterone involved."
Cagey veterans with often blunt styles, the two men faced off against each other in 2010 for the governorship. Bakk's candidacy failed to gain traction and he withdrew.
Unmended, the rift between them could grow to the point where political leaders may question Bakk's continued effectiveness as a leader expected to help his party's governor attain mutual objectives.
But none of the half-dozen DFL senators reached for this story expressed any lack of confidence in Bakk's leadership of their 39-member caucus.
"Tom Bakk is the majority leader of the Senate DFL, and for many reasons is supported by the caucus," said Sen. Dick Cohen, a longtime DFL senator from St. Paul. Asked for his take on what happened, Cohen chalked it up to a communications breakdown.
"As often happens with matters of volatility at the State Capitol, there can be a misunderstanding unintentionally between parties," Cohen said. "I think that's what happened in this instance. I'm optimistic this will blow over, with certainly some hard feelings for a couple of days."
But the salary hike dispute is far from settled, and has taken on a force that could go beyond the single issue, leaving DFLers vulnerable to GOP attacks.
For now, the ball goes back to House Republicans. They have the option of acting on their own version of the emergency funding bill, or adopting the Bakk amendment and sending a bill to Dayton who has threatened a veto.
GOP House Speaker Kurt Daudt declined to comment. His spokeswoman said Daudt and House GOP leaders had not yet decided whether to vote on the Senate spending bill or the House's version, which includes the pay provision Dayton said he would accept.
A veto from the governor would delay emergency money for the departments of Health, Human Services, and Natural Resources, and for the Minnesota Zoo. And it would raise the prospect of a veto override attempt, which would stoke even more tension between Dayton and his fellow DFLers.
"The governor has really made this a big thing now, and put his stake in the ground over it," said Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie. "If you play out what happens next, it doesn't get pretty. It surprises me that the governor wants to make this the hill that he stands and fights on."
Even if the DFL can thread the needle on the salary dispute, the more fundamental question concerns the future of the Dayton-Bakk relationship. Goodwin said maybe a mediator should get involved, at least initially, for important negotiations.
"The important thing now is that they need to talk," Goodwin said.
Patrick Condon • patrick.condon@startribune.com • 651-925-5049 Abby Simons • asimons@startribune.com • 651-925-5043
