Dennis Anderson: Our state legislators still are not following the rules

The Internet is a blessing in many ways, not least because it grants access to the inner workings of government. For an interesting example, go online to www.lccmr.leg.mn, click on "schedule" and then click on "Audio 1." (The good stuff begins about 1 hour and 35 minutes into the tape.)

What you'll hear is a recording of the most recent meeting of the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, a bunch that until the past few years had distinguished itself for -- among its many worthwhile achievements -- playing politics with your lottery dollars, occasionally spending them on proposals that were loaded more with pork than science.

Improvements began a few years back when, at Gov. Tim Pawlenty's suggestion and the Legislature's eventual acquiescence, what once was the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCMR), comprising only legislators, morphed into its current form, the LCCMR, the extra "C" in the acronym denoting the presence now of seven citizens on a panel with 17 total members.

Short story: Citizens were added to the commission in part to ensure that lottery dollars were actually spent to benefit the environment, not politicians' pet projects -- and careers.

So far, so good, until Jan. 16 when, after about six months' work and deliberations, the LCCMR was blindsided by its co-chairwoman, Rep. Jean Wagenius, DFL-Minneapolis, along with her House colleagues, Lyndon Carlson, DFL-Crystal, and Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia.

Some background:

At its December meeting, the LCCMR tentatively approved a list of $25 million in environment projects it would propose to the Legislature using lottery funds. At the time, David Hartwell, a citizen conservationist, was a member of the commission, as were Rep. Kathy Tingelstad, R-Andover, and Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina.

LCCMR rules state that a "super majority" of 12 members is required to pass a final bill of projects onto the Legislature, thereby preventing the panel's 10 legislative members from running roughshod over the seven citizen members.

Fast forward now to the commission's Jan. 16 meeting, at which it was expected to formalize the legislative proposal tentatively approved in December.

Or so the commission's citizen members -- and most of its Senate members -- thought.

Instead, Wagenius offered an amendment to the original proposal that would cancel about $2 million worth of habitat acquisition and, ultimately, development, and replace it with what some commission members repeatedly called a "jobs program."

Included in Wagenius' new plan for your lottery dollars was the installation of solar technology at some state parks -- something no one, apparently, has ever asked for.

Citizen volunteer members Al Berner, Nancy Gibson and Jeff Broberg were --fair to say -- startled by Wagenius' offbeat proposition. The commission had held multiple daylong meetings during the past six months, winnowing final project proposals from a list that originally numbered more than 150.

"I'm trying to figure out your motive," Gibson said at the meeting to Wagenius. "I don't see anything in the mission statement that this [lottery funds for the environment] is a jobs program."

Wagenius said she had talked to unnamed House members and that unless her proposed changes were made to the commission's recommendations she "would expect some changes" to the LCCMR's proposals in the Legislature.

Said citizen member Berner, who holds a doctorate in wildlife biology: "How many more jobs do you propose to create [compared to the number of jobs that would be created by the commission's original proposal of projects]? If you're going to make a change like this, don't you think you should bring actual numbers?"

"We've been through a rigorous process" to develop project recommendations, citizen member Broberg said, adding that "wildcat" proposals shouldn't come before the commission at the last minute.

Ultimately, Wagenius' amendment was defeated. But, after a fashion, she still won: The final vote for the original project recommendations was 11-2, with Wagenius and Carlson opposing (Rukavina had left the meeting and didn't vote).

A bill that includes the original project recommendations still will be sent to the Legislature by the commission. But the divided vote will leave it more vulnerable for tinkering by the Legislature than it would otherwise be.

One would think that when 56 percent of the state's voters say they want Minnesota's environment protected, as they did in November when they passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment, legislators would stop playing games with the state's natural resources.

Apparently not.