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Politics & Government

Rep. Thissen: Budget Not Given Top Priority Prior to Shutdown; Legislators Inching Closer to Agreement

Threats to LGA and other property tax aid could affect Richfield residents even as social policy issues fall by the negotiating wayside.

(DFL-Richfield/Minneapolis), the Minority Leader for the Minnesota House of Representatives, has been participating in ongoing with Gov. Mark Dayton and colleagues in the legislature for several weeks now. Richfield Patch caught up with him to ask how the negotiations were going and hear his opinion on the logjam.

Richfield Patch: After Minnesota voters elected their first DFL governor in more than 20 years and their first Republican-controlled Senate in decades, much was made at the beginning of this legislative session about the importance of reaching across the aisle. Given the shutdown, can you say much of this has happened?

Rep. Paul Thissen: No, there wasn’t much reaching across the aisle within the legislative work. Unfortunately I think in these budget negotiations Gov. Dayton really has gone out of his way to be fair. He has proposed seven different compromises and Republicans have said no to every one. The spirit of compromise isn’t there, and that attitude doesn't move us forward.

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Richfield Patch: Budget negotiations obviously went up to the July 1 deadline and an agreement wasn’t reached, and those negotiations came on top of budget work done during the regular legislative session. Do you feel the budget was given top priority by legislators?

Thissen: No. Two days before [the regular] session ended back in May, the House spent hours on a . And then we went to the last hours June 29, when Republicans came in with their first offer, but [it was] one with revenues tied to a page and a half of social policy. There isn’t enough focus on the budget and too much focus on social issues from [the] Republican’s perspective.

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Some of the things [Republicans] said they needed—two abortion bills, making stem cell research a crime in Minnesota, passage of a gerrymandered redistricting map, a photo ID law—are all requirements of Republicans to get a budget passed and clearly things that aren’t connected to any particular money. The governor, Sen. Bakk and I said ‘No, we should not bring extra issues in.’ Republicans have backtracked substantially, [so] social negotiations won’t be part of [current] negotiations.

Richfield Patch: You're involved with the budget negotiations. From your vantage point, how close are the two sides to finalizing a deal and getting state government running again?

Thissen: There’s been this idea that we’ve been close for a long time, and I don’t think that's been true. I will say that what gives me some hope is that there are two large things everyone agrees on. One is that Republicans are clearly saying any social policy issues are off the table [not a part of negotiations]; when budget deals aren’t going to be contingent on social policy, that’s a positive.

And two, Republicans agreed that we need $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion more in money. Republicans want to borrow, the governor is saying we should have a permanent, ongoing solution to fill that revenue hole. In broad terms there’s agreement, but still it comes back to how you raise that money.

Richfield Patch: How might residents in Richfield and Southwest Minneapolis notice some of the differences in the two proposed budgets?

Thissen: The Republicans’ budget includes significant and disproportionate cuts to LGA (local government aid) and other property tax aid, so it's going to have the affect of driving up property taxes in Minneapolis and St. Paul much more than in other parts of the state.

Also it reduces the amount of funding for schools in Minneapolis and Richfield and shifts that to suburbs further out. The Republicans’ budget is particularly bad for the city of Minneapolis and other inner ring suburbs. Those are areas traditionally represented by Democratic parts of government.

Richfield Patch: What's your role as House Minority Leader been like recently?

Thissen: In the week leading up to the shutdown and since then I’ve been over at the State Capitol most waking hours of the day, trying to come up with a solution in negotiations with the governor and Republicans. We’re working very hard at getting that done.

Over the holiday weekend I was out and around the community talking to people, and people are clearly frustrated with our inability [to pass a budget], but generally supportive of the idea that we need a balanced approach.

Two things which jump out at me are Republicans’ insistence on social issues and confusion over why we’re making these deep cuts. [People don't understand] why we can’t ask people making a million dollars or more a year–that’s $20,000 or more per week–to participate in resolving this budget problem. People I speak to really express confusion over why that particular line in the sand has been drawn by the Republicans.

Richfield Patch: You've chosen to forgo your salary during the shutdown. Why?

Thissen: The way I look at it, the state government is shut down, which means a lot of state employees and people in the private sector aren’t getting paid as a consequence. I just thought that in those circumstances, it also made sense for me not to accept a paycheck until we get this budget resolution resolved. It’s a matter of equity and solidarity, in some sense.

Richfield Patch: What do you think is most important for your constituents, and Minnesotans in general, to realizing during this crisis?

Thissen: Minnesotans should know we’re working hard to get this done. I think that Gov. Dayton has demonstrated incredible leadership and willingness to compromise with Republicans, and now it’s time to get this settled and let the state of Minnesota get back to business. The Republicans have agreed that we need over $1 billion in new revenue. Those are good signs. I remain committed to working as hard as I can to get an agreement done.

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