The time and energy spent on making a budget deal in the Minnesota Legislature leaves two area legislators alternately energized by their accomplishment and frustrated with the governor’s stalling tactics.

Saturday, February 23, 2002

The time and energy spent on making a budget deal in the Minnesota Legislature leaves two area legislators alternately energized by their accomplishment and frustrated with the governor’s stalling tactics.

&uot;I think this was the most amazing week of my legislative career. When I left the floor [on Thursday] I thought it had been an interesting week, and then it got more interesting,&uot; said Rep. Dan Dorman (R) District 27A.

Dorman doesn’t think the governor expected the House and Senate to work out a deal, and was trying to play for time when he refused to accept the bill after it passed the House and Senate.

Time is the critical element, according to Dorman, because if the governor can stall the Legislature until Wednesday, he can start making unilateral cuts to programs. If he had accepted the bill on Thursday, he would have had to make a decision by Monday night, giving the Legislature Tuesday to override an expected veto.

The state is required to release updated economic forecasts on Wednesday, and if the budget deal becomes law, those forecasts must reflect the projected influence of the budget deal. If the forecasts come before the deal is approved, the deal itself is no longer valid.

&uot;If he gets the budget forecast out before he vetoes or lets it become law, the budget agreement is null and void,&uot; said Sen. Grace Schwab (R) District 27. At this point, legislators say he has until midnight Monday to sign or veto the bill or it will become law by default. That would be three working days after they tried to get it to him. Ventura insists he has 24 hours more, based on when he actually got it.

On Thursday, the Legislature approved a no-new-taxes plan to close a $1.95 billion gap in the 2002-03 budget crafted without any help from Ventura’s administration. Ventura argues his proposal is more responsible because it fully addresses budget problems years into the future and includes deeper spending cuts and tax increases.

The legislative agreement isn’t totally to Dorman’s tastes, but he is pleased with the way people on all sides came together to make a deal. He doesn’t want the governor to be able to make cuts without legislative involvement.

Schwab thinks the current fight is a political battle between the governor and the Legislature with huge potential costs for the people of Minnesota.

&uot;I think the governor is acting childish. He tells the people of Minnesota that each day there isn’t a deal costs the state $3 million and then he locks the door and asks for more time,&uot; said Schwab.

&uot;It goes to his leadership style, and I no longer have any respect for that. I don’t think Minnesotans are getting the the leadership they deserve and respect from the governor’s office,&uot; she said.

When it came time to deliver the bill at 4:30 p.m., after House and Senate votes, Ventura and the staff members designated to accept it were gone.

Thursday night’s harried search for Ventura – at the Capitol, the governor’s mansion and his private ranch – got the clock running, legislative leaders say. Ventura disagrees.

How it plays out will determine how big of a problem confronts legislators.

State economists are set to release a new budget forecast as early as Monday and by Wednesday at the latest. And most lawmakers expect it will show Minnesota’s deficit has grown.

Since December, officials have been working under the assumption that the state budget will be $1.95 billion short come June 2003. A hoped-for uptick in the state economy hasn’t materialized, and January figures showed tax collections were $72 million behind projections.

This story also featured material from the Associated Press.