Taxes

Our Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report/Politics in Minnesota table outside the Taylor Arena, where the actual convention is taking place, happens to be next to the table for the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. The prez of that conservative group, Phil Krinkie, is a former legislator and a columnist for us. Krinkie and his folks, Mark Giga and Sara Linert, are happily passing out – hot off the press, so to speak – their 2008 Legislative Scorecard, “A Guide to Minnesota Lawmakers’ Votes on Taxes and Spending.”

The league has “scored” every legislator based on how they voted in 11 bills in both the House and Senate. Giga, director of outreach, says the average number of winners in the 12 scorecards the group has done is about 10 – this was a pretty tough year. That’s because the votes scored included both bonding bills and the cap-and-trade bill and the hotly contested transportation bill that passed over Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto (according to today’s issue of Capitol Report, this year Pawlenty lodged the most vetoes on record for a governor, or at least since 1939, as far as the state’s records go back on tallying vetoes). Not shockingly, all 8 winners are Republicans. They are Rep. Bruce Anderson, R-Buffalo Township; Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan; Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano; Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar; Rep. Mark Olson, R-Big Lake; Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie; Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove; and Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen. This is Anderson’s 8th award. And legislators do care about this award – so far, two have come by to see how they did. One, Hann, was a winner (for the 4th time) and pleased to be (notice the photo); the other, Sen. Betsy Wergin, R-Princeton, was not and was a little chagrined not to be. She suggested it was a tough year to score 100 percent.


Sen. David Hann with Taxpayers League's Phil Krinkie