State Government Shutdown? Still Anyone's Guess

With a possible shutdown of Minnesota state government less than 30 days away, Hopkins' two state legislators are still unclear about the specifics of a shutdown. It's even more unclear whether DFLers and Republicans can come together in the battle over a final state budget in time to avert Minnesota's second shutdown in six years.

That was the main theme of a town hall meeting Monday evening at the co-hosted by the men who represent Hopkins in St. Paul.

“No one involved in this wants to be blamed for shutting down state government,” said Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-District 44A).

Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-District 44) said several polls, including two national ones taken in Minnesota, show a strong preference for compromise—reaching a budget deal that involved a combination of spending cuts and generating additional taxes or revenues.

“Editorially, there were 40 newspapers in the state which took a stand on the matter, and 39 of them argued for the compromise approach with just one paper (in Fairmont) saying the answer was cuts in spending only,” Latz said. “As of now, the Republican leadership has made no significant movement to meet the governor halfway on this.” 

Republicans counter that their proposed $34 billion budget is halfway between the $32 billion they originally aimed for—based on the state's initial revenue forecast—and Gov. Mark Dayton's $36 billion budget proposal.

In 2005, a 13-day shutdown occurred. Then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Attorney General Mike Hatch agreed to have recently-retired State Supreme Court Judge Ed Stringer rule on what state services were essential—and therefore had to continue even during the shutdown.

“I don’t see that happening in the current situation, and there were questions raised back in ’05 if it was even allowable under the state constitution,” Simon said. “The shutdown and the judge’s involvement were so short that a legal challenge to the arrangement couldn’t be mounted in time."

Latz said that, this year, Republicans devoted too much time and energy to social issues—such as a constitutional amendment on as well as and .

“Personally, I felt it was inappropriate and was a major distraction from the major issues such as the budget,” he said.

Simon concurred, saying it was bad timing to be taking up so much time on the same-sex marriage issue with just “48 hours to go until the end of the session and a budget agreement still far from being resolved.”

Latz contends there is a good deal of entrenched thinking in the Senate by first-term legislators who came in not fully grasping how the system works to reach compromise.

“They are clearly more doctrinaire,” he said.

Simon said that eventually a compromise would be reached.

“Public pressure will force a compromise and, in the end, it becomes pretty hard for any of us to remain ideologically pure,” he said.