Pawlenty starts campaign for GOP endorsement

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty has a long way to go before he can call himself governor, or even the GOP candidate for governor. But he's already planning what he will do when he gets there.

Pawlenty, who announced last week he would seek the Republican endorsement for governor, was in New Ulm Monday to talk about his goals for office.

Pawlenty said he is all for keeping the tax cuts approved this past session, and for keeping a lid on government, but he added that the state needs to do more to create fair opportunities in key areas, including children, roads and bridges, and job creation.

Children benefit most from good families and good parents, said Pawlenty. But there are children who don't have that advantage. Pawlenty said the way to help them is not to create more government programs, but to encourage the growth of charitable, non-profit groups that do a much better job than government of helping.

To that end, Pawlenty calls for a substantial charity tax credit that will allow people to take their charitable contributions, dollar for dollar, directly off their tax bill. Minnesota currently offers tax deductions for charitable donations, which reduces taxable income. Tax credits would come directly off the final tax bill.

Children also need excellent educational opportunities. Minnesota has a history of educational leadership, but that status has been slipping, said Pawlenty. Schools need to return to curriculum focuses on rigorous standards, with emphasis on core subjects. The Minnesota Profiles of Learning lack rigorous standards, lack focus and should be abolished, said Pawlenty.

He said schools need adequate funding, coupled with accountability. He admits that sounds like Gov. Jesse Ventura's stance on education, but he said Ventura has never advocated accountability measures.

"He doesn't have his fingerprints on any of the accountability measures that were passed this year," said Pawlenty. Ventura is a "Jesse-come-lately" on issues like alternative compensation for teachers like performance-based pay, and educational audits.

Pawlenty also advocates improved funding for rural roads and bridges, and says the state's current program is 20 to 30 years out of date. Ventura's bias on transportation funding is toward metropolitan transit projects and light rail, said Pawlenty.

When Ventura was in New Ulm last week, the governor said his first budget contained transportation proposals that would have addressed rural roads and bridges, but the Legislature shot it down. He didn't submit a similar proposal this last year, Ventura said, figuring it would meet the same fate.

Pawlenty said he would be coming out soon with a proposal for increasing the funding for roads and bridges.

In the area of jobs and development, Pawlenty said he wants to help the rural economy that is lagging behind the metropolitan area economy.

Pawlenty said farming is the key part of the rural economy, and the state should do what it can to reduce production costs for farmers, including taxes, feed lot cleanup costs, and other regulatory costs.

Pawlenty also supports developing more value-added product opportunities for farmers, and providing research and development money for new products.

He wants each part of Minnesota to be connected to high speed telecommunications service and would "nudge" providers to expand their coverage areas.

Finally, he would bring tax-free zones to portions of Minnesota that need an economic boost. Portions of southwestern, west central and northeast Minnesota could use the zones to stabilize areas of rural economic decline, he said.