Same old, same old…

At this time last week, one of the subjects considered for this editorial spot was to praise the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton for passing a state budget. Even though they had to go into a special session, legislators and the governor’s office worked to find what was believed to be a compromise that would take care of the state’s finances for the next two years. It was a welcome end to the chaos and finger pointing that has characterized the end of so many sessions in recent years.

Of course, we have since learned that the governer found several provisions in the bills which he claims were not part of the negotiated agreement. Instead of vetoing the bills, he tried a different strategy... He signed the bills as agreed, but used a line item veto to zero out the money appropriated for the state legislature in the next biennium. He demanded that legislative leaders come back to another special session to make changes to the bills he signed, promising to restore the Legislature’s funding as part of the negotiations.

Depending on which side of the political aisle you are on, this was either an unconstitutional attempt to force the legislature to submit to the governor, or it’s a brilliant move that designed to get the other side back to the negotiating table.

And so, as we have so often seen in recent years, we have a divided government pointing fingers and casting blame. Legislative leaders are planning a lawsuit to restore the legislature’s funding. What we haven’t seen, in the week since the veto, is any sign of negotiations.

Same old, same old.