Pioneer Editorial: Partisanship still plagues bonding bill

Minnesota legislators hope to sew up soon one of the major tasks that they failed to do last year - approving a major state building projects bill. With hopes of passing one as soon as February - allowing work to begin with this summer’s construction season and also clearing the decks for the key topic of the session, that of crafting a new two-year state budget - it behooves lawmakers not to waste time.

As a result, it seemed like good policy to start where everyone had left off last year

with Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s $760 million bonding proposal, the $677.6 million bill approved in the Republican-held House, and the Senate DFL’s $948.7 million bill which failed to find the necessary 60 percent support to pass in the Senate.

The Senate last week did introduce its $948.7 million bill, understanding it’s a starting point. And the governor did likewise, but even increasing his proposal to account for construction inflation over the past year, now proposing $816 million in state building projects.

And the House? The GOP-led House cut its bill $35.3 million, offering a starting point of $642.3 million. Offering a low-ball bill isn’t disturbing

every knows it will grow. If the art of compromise works, the eventual bill will probably settle around the $820 million figure thrown out by Pawlenty, but with priorities shifted.

No, what is troubling that of the $35.3 million sliced from the House bill, $30.6 million of it involves Bemidji-area projects--all of which were in the House bill that won overwhelming approval 102-30 last April and sent along to the Senate.

Included were funding for Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College emerging technologies expansion, part of a phased program enhancement over three bienniums, for a BSU hockey arena and events center, trail work to complete the Paul Bunyan Trail in the city of Bemidji, and completion of a visitors’ center at the Big Bog Recreation Center at Waskish. All those projects were stripped from the House bill introduced last week. We wonder why.

Could it be because the two Republican House members from the affected districts were replaced by two Democrats? If so, is the work of those two hard-working indivi-duals to include those projects in a bill winning large support from both sides now to be forgotten, calling for a clean slate?

The House continued its political finger-wagging by also not including at least $22 million for desperately needed new school facilities on the Red Lake Reservation. While last year’s House measure also neglected Red Lake, at least both the Senate DFL bill and Pawlenty’s proposal both contain the project. In fact, Pawlenty boosted it to $24 million.

The Senate bill includes most but not all the items deleted by the House, but the Re-publican governor’s bill follows the House lead also with nary a buck for the Bemidji area, aside from the Red Lake funding.

Despite a pledge at the outset of bipartisanship, we fear the 2005 session has started where the 2004 session left off--deeply divided and more concerned with posturing that results.