State government not all hugs and kisses

By Don Davis
Forum News Service
ST. PAUL - It probably is a safe bet that Mark Dayton and Tom Bakk did not exchange Valentine’s Day cards.
By all accounts, Minnesota state government’s top two Democrats never have been the best of friends, but to listen to Gov. Dayton, it would appear any semblance of friendship is gone after a dispute over him increasing his commissioners’ salaries.
“I can’t trust him in what he says to me. He connives behind my back.”
Words like those on Thursday   from Dayton, about Senate Majority Leader Bakk, seldom, if ever, are heard from a governor talking about someone else in his own party. And it certainly is rare for him to refuse to meet with Bakk unless a witness is present.
Jaws dropped throughout the Capitol complex late Thursday morning when the Senate was discussing a $15 million bill for a number of unexpected expenses, such as greatly enhancing security at the state security hospital in St. Peter after violent incidents there. Bakk, from Cook, rose with an amendment to the bill that would delay until July 1 the $830,000 in raises Dayton awarded his commissioners last month.
The raises of up to $35,000 a year, which gave some commissioners salaries of more than $150,000, began when Dayton took office on Jan. 5. Lawmakers did not know about them until a month later.
Bakk said that the salaries probably would be fine, but he wanted to make sure there was time for lawmakers to get the facts and decide for themselves.
Everyone expected a Republican to offer an amendment, likely to be defeated by the Democratic-controlled Senate, against the raises. Instead of a GOP attempt going down, all senators other than two urban Democrats voted with Bakk to delay raises.
Most people contacted from both parties did not return messages Forum News Service left Friday to analyze what the Dayton-Bakk split would mean for the rest of the legislative session and next year’s election.
Many Republicans were happy to sit on the sidelines as spectators, but one involved in the pay-raise dispute did talk.
“It’s unfathomable,” Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, said about the DFL political dispute.
Even more important, he said, “the actions of the governor are unfathomable for Minnesotans as they look at decreasing median family incomes.”
Drazkowski is author of a provision headed to the full House, perhaps on Thursday, to reduce funding for three agencies where commissioners received some of the biggest raises.
The lawmaker said he did not know what will happen with his plan.
One possibility is that the Republican-controlled House would accept the Senate bill, with a raise delay, and send it to the governor for a promised veto. The question then would be whether enough Democrats would vote to override the governor.
Drazkowski hinted at one potential amendment when he recalled one email he received that said: “You know this cronyism that we have going on wouldn’t be happening if it were written in law that the governor could adjust the salaries for the next term of the governor instead of the one we are in.”
For Dayton, it was not about cronyism, it is about trust. He said that he trusts House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, more than he does fellow Democrat Bakk, although he also said he and Daudt often do not agree politically.
Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandra, summarized what a lot of Republicans said of the situation: “Raising bureaucrats’ pay at the cost to the taxpayers is something that I do not support. His unilateral decision is something that doesn’t reflect the way things should be done.”
Dayton said he awarded the raises because the state needs to pay commissioners enough to attract quality ones. He said no commissioner complained about the pay and none threatened to resign due to salary.
Before his Thursday amendment, Bakk had said Dayton should have given the raises in smaller doses and over a period of time.
While the Dayton-Bakk drama unfolds, the underlying bill to the dispute is in limbo.
The measure, in legislative terms a “deficiency bill,” was drawn up to provide urgent funding to some state agencies, with $10.4 million going to the state hospital in St. Peter to fix serious security issues. Other money would go to the Department of Natural Resources’ conservation officers, pay for Ebola monitoring and help the Minnesota Zoo get through a funding problem.