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Legislative Lyricism
The 2007 Session Ends on a Poetic Note from Senate District 41's Legislators: Sen. Geoff Michel, Rep. Ron Erhardt and Rep. Neil Peterson
There were smiles, cheers and only tears of laughter among the 70-plus attendees at Senate District 41's annual legislative session review - a far cry from expectations five months ago. Facing DFL majorities in both chambers and prospects of excessive spending and potential tax increases, SD 41's legislators were exhausted but euphoric from a session that saw the GOP ranks hold together and thus hold the line on taxes.
All three, Sen. Geoff Michel (41), Rep. Ron Erhardt (41-A) and Rep. Neil Peterson (41-B), were also happy to be done without a special session, a factor not lost on the evening’s moderator, former Hennepin County Attorney and State Representative Gary Flackne. Gary endured the longest the special session in history in 1971, when the legislature concluded in October. The difference between 2007's dash and 1971's marathon? Governor Tim Pawlenty. “Things sure run differently when you have the 300-pound gorilla in the southwest office,” Flackne laughed as he gave the microphone to Senate District 41's legislators.
Sen. Geoff Michel was still in a “zombie-like” zone from the session’s whirlwind finish. But even if the “crazy circus” in St. Paul had taken its toll on Michel’s energy, his spirit was unbowed as he acknowledged Republicans had “come a long way since November.” Seven months after watching the unfortunate election results locally and nationally, Michel says he feels energized and enthusiastic about the next session and next election - an attitude he senses from top to bottom in the GOP. Having survived the DFL’s “back to the 1970s” agenda of turning back welfare reform and spending c ontrol by spending most of 2007 “playing defense,” the Senate minority held together partially because of the proposals emanating from DFL Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and his caucus. “This session was a great reminder of why we do this. We believe in a different kind of Minnesota; a different kind of government,” Michel said.
SD 41's second-term senator may have been pleased with the final result but not with the process that delivered it. In passing the roughly $53 billion budget during the session’s last five days, especially in the session’s last night, Michel remarked “this is a bad way to run a railroad.”. A process that crams the majority of important legislation into the session’s waning hours deprives legislators of the time necessary to review bills and make solid determinations on how sound they are, Michel complained. “You shouldn’t put up with it anymore,” he told his audience.
Rep. Ron Erhardt was only half-joking when he said he was reading the newspaper to find out what was passed only hours before in the House. The flurry of legislative action, including shutting down Republican complaints from the Speaker’s chair was part of a “dust-up” that showed new Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher’s (DFL-Minneapolis) “inexperience” in her role and the rules as legislators tried vainly to see what measures the DFL had buried in reams of paperwork. The explosion in work and attempted taxation was par for the session’s course, with Tax Committee chair Ann Lenczewski (DFL-Bloomington) hearing “more tax bills than in the history of House.” Erhardt felt the strain of the DFL’s new majority in terms of the number of new committees and, due to the reduced Republicans ranks, the veteran legislator had to serve on six committees to make ends meet. 
As he had in sessions past, Erhardt worked on transportation issues in 2007, trying to gain support for a gasoline tax and more rail and transit. He found an unlikely ally in former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey ®-TX) who was in Minnesota for a fund-raiser earlier in the year. Armey lavished praise on Texas’ rail and transit systems, which he said, “opened up the roads for Republican cars.”
Rep. Neil Peterson was in a poetic and philosophical mood while recalling the 2007 session. Peterson attributed the frenzied conclusion in the House to the rift between House and Senate DFLers, suggesting that the Senate, or the “autocrats in chairs,” tried to ride over the House’s new and inexperienced majority. The new members, roughly 30% of the DFL majority, are “skilled, but new...a dangerous combination” in Peterson’s eyes. Hearing of “yelling and screaming” within the DFL’s caucus meetings as Sens. Linda Berglin and Larry Pogemiller attempted to “change the world” over the disagreements of moderate Democrats and Republicans, Peterson saw much of the behavior quoted in Proverbs 17:28: “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise.” 
Watching the DFL attempt to pass tax increase on top of tax increase in the House, Peterson was momentarily moved to poetry as he wrote an ode to Rep. Lenczewski, asking, “when is enough not enough?”
“When is enough not enough
and why can’t we learn to make do?
Can’t we make do with a Billion or two,
That taxpayers paid, with the money they made?
Can’t we resist and take off the docket
This urge to put our hand in the pocket?
If there’s money a plenty for Gov. Pawlenty,
Why is enough not enough?”
Having given their views on 2007, the three legislators then responded to some of the views of their constituents:
* Gas Tax: Despite the gas tax’s failure to override Gov. Pawlenty’s veto, Erhardt defended the legislation stated that roads needed funding and that U.S. gas prices “are the lowest in the civilized world,” noting that Europe is currently paying roughly $6 a gallon. Peterson said most townships are pushing for an increase and felt confident that Pawlenty would allow a bill without the extra transit spending pass next session. Michel also thought that possible, suggesting that the “pile-up” of taxes in addition to the gas tax doomed the bill.
* Heritage Amendment: The failure to a bill that would dedicate 3/8ths of 1% of the sales tax to wildlife and the arts may have died to the combination of “blasters and casters”, Peterson joked. Michel suggested the DFL House let the bill slip away, noting that at 10:30pm on the last night the bill was on the Speaker’s desk and the House chose to focus on other items such as a veto override. “Don’t bring a veto override to the floor unless you’ve got it,” Michel chided. “They didn’t count very well.”
* The $2.2 Billion Surplus: Responding to questions on where the money went, Erhardt reminded the audience that roughly $1 billion of the figure was one-time money which could not be given over to programs. But another $1 billion surplus is expected on the July 1st revenue forecast. Michel complained that the Governor’s proposed 10% spending increase was immediately bypassed for a 17-20% increase by Senate Democrats, which could only be funded by tax increases.
* K-12 Education: With a focus on special-education, Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Cloud were made the “big winners” by the legislature while the rest of the state had to make due with an overall 3% increase in the next biennium, Michel said. Some suburban districts like Hopkins will benefit and funds were provided for statewide kindergarten from the ages of 3-4 and up in the House.
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