Pawlenty says NO to transit

Who ever thought a governor could be against transportation? First, Tim Pawlenty gave us Carol Molnau. Then, after years of starving our infrastructure, he tried to veto the transportation bill which will provide much-needed revenue for our roads and transit. Lately, he has been threatening to take the funding from the new transit sales tax--which he tried to veto--so he can cut funding for transit.

And now the onslaught continues. Pawlenty's line-item vetoes (PDF) include $70 million taken from Central Corridor, which put LRT's federal funding, and its very existence, on the line. All told, he cut nearly $103 million in transportation funding.

To me, Pawlenty's refusal to properly fund transportation is the epitome of the conservative politics that have been dismantling our state. Over the past six years, conservatives have been telling us that we're overtaxed, that we don't need to invest in our infrastructure, and that we should just put it on the credit card. They don't seem to understand that investment in our infrastructure is what has made Minnesota successful. People don't move here for the weather; they move here for our quality of life. If low taxes are all that's important, why don't more people live in Mississippi?

Without making the investments we need to stay competitive, we can't compete for new jobs and new residents. But cutting taxes is all that's important to Pawlenty. Unfortunately, he can't have it all. Remember when MnDOT asked contractors to loan them the money to complete construction projects? A fiscally healthy state just doesn't do things like that!.

While Pawlenty continues to pander to group like the Taxpayers' League, we are going from The State That Works to a state that is rapidly running out of safe bridges. Every infrastructure investment we don't make is another firm that starts looking at moving to the Sun Belt. After all, if we're going to be stuck in traffic, why not do it while it's warm?

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