Where's Gov. Dayton?
That was the question Republican lawmakers were asking as they emerged from a meeting in the governor's reception room this morning regarding the K-12 education budget. Despite an e-mail saying the governor would be present, he never showed.
"It's very difficult when the governor doesn't show up," said Education Finance Committee Chairman Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington. "And we need the governor to come out and play. We need him here to help us reach an agreement on this."
MMB commissioner Jim Schowalter and Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius were on hand, but not authorized to make substantive deals, according to Republican Sen. Gen Olson. Lawmakers from both parties reported little progress on negotiations.
GOP staffers supplied an e-mail confirmation from the governor's office noting that Dayton would be at the meeting. Dayton's press secretary Katie Tinucci said after the GOP press conference that the governor is "here working and meeting all day," but was somewhere else in the office.
Dayton said last Friday that unless Republicans budge on their initial budget targets, meetings this week would be "for show." An advisor to the governor, Bob Hume, said Monday that Dayton is "completely available and ready to discuss a new proposal when they bring one to the table."
DFL Sen. Leroy Stumpf, who was at the meeting, said it will be hard to negotiate on specific bills until Dayton and GOP leadership agree on how much to spend overall. Progress on that front may come this afternoon, when legislative leaders are scheduled to meet with Dayton.
"When you don't have some kind of a target or basically an overall plan, it doesn't help very much to try to solve the details because you're just basically going around in a circle," Stumpf said.
