Minnesota: Broken deals, bitter words and a state shuts down

Broken deals, bitter words and a state shuts down

Dayton renewed his call to tax the rich; GOP pointed to harm of long-term debt. The governor and legislative leaders worked into the evening in a last-ditch bid for resolution.

Dayton and Republican legislators have been stalemated since January over how to balance the budget and close out the projected deficit. Dayton largely won election on a promise to preserve cherished state services by increasing taxes on the richest 2 percent of Minnesotans. But Republicans won control of the Legislature for the first time in decades with a pledge not to raise taxes. The deep rift ignited a political fistfight that spilled past the regular legislative session in late May and dragged the state to the current precipice.

As the negotiators toiled over the details, more than 23,000 workers prepared for life without paychecks and the state began shooing people from state campgrounds and closing rest areas. Even before the shutdown, Minnesotans got an early peek at the inconvenience from the mothballing of many state services. Minnesotans could no longer check if their optometrists, barbers or veterinarians had valid licenses to practice. Licensing board offices and various other state agencies pulled the plug on their agency websites hours before the scheduled shutdown.

State worker Lori Sobczak tried to remain optimistic.

"There’s frustration," said Sobczak, a two-year Minnesota Department of Transportation employee.

The fear is "the unknown, you know," she said. "Rumors are flying around; [a shutdown] could be, you know, 45-60 days. ... That’s scary."

Adding to the ominous drumbeat, transportation workers were told to turn in their employee badges and take with them any plants that might die without water.

"They forget about the little guy that’s working," grumbled Paul Eaton, another MnDOT employee in the permit division.

Eaton also said that, should there be a shutdown, there might not be much political pressure initially to resolve the situation.

"They go back to their, ’We’re not going to give in, until you give this,’" Eaton said. "It could then be a big, long ordeal ... then that’s really going to hurt."

The pressure from the looming shutdown stripped away months of polished rhetoric from both sides.

Republicans continued their almost evangelical crusade against higher taxes, but some warmed to the idea of more revenue from other sources, like an expansion of gambling, health care surcharges and other fees.

"I’m kind of interested in the revenue raisers," said Sen. Mike Jungbauer, R-East Bethel. "There’s some that I would be interested in. Gambling. I hate gambling. But if you put it in the right place, I’d be OK with it."

Jungbauer said the remaining divide between Dayton and Republicans shouldn’t be enough to close down government.

"We’ve seen the general sketch of the landscape of what’s going on, what stuff is under negotiation," Jungbauer said. "And I think we’re so dang close, if we shut it down I’m going to be really pissed."

As the afternoon crept toward the dinner hour, Capitol visitors got a screeching reminder of the unprecedented moment in Minnesota history.

At 5 p.m., a voice blared through a little-used intercom: "The Capitol is now closed, please make your way to the nearest exit."

http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/124824189.html