Speed Gibson

Those who know me know that few things rile me more than knowingly making false statements about another for personal gain. So I am careful and convinced when I say that in my opinion, Minnesota Senator Dean Johnson is lying about the events of Thursday night that ended in our so-called State government shutdown.

First, we know that Mr. Johnson's word isn't always good. Last year, he admitted that he had lied to Cheri Pierson Yecci, then sacked her in a surprise middle of the night vote. He could hardly have denied it, given there were witnesses, but his explanation was basically that Yecci should have known better.

So now, let us again consider his own testimony in appearances on KSTP's "At Issue with Tom Hauser" (taped late Friday afternoon) and KTCA's "Almanac" (live Friday night).

Tom Hauser: Why did you do that [, adjourn early]?

Johnson: Well, number one, the Senate had passed the continuing resolution which should have kept State government open and workers in place and they would have received a paycheck starting today. And second of all, that was all the business we had at our desk. Thirdly, I had met with the Governor about 7 o’clock and we were talking about the two major issues in the budget: Health and Human Services as it relates to Minnesota Care, and Education.

And as the Governor and I were literally sitting at his desk talking, he said, “We need X amount of money for the Health and Human Services.” And I asked him what we have been discussing all week, “Does this mean there will be less than [a] four percent per year increase for public education?” and his response was, “Yes, we need the money over here for welfare.”

And I had kind of a sinking feeling that now the Governor would say we’re somehow going to raise cigarette taxes to pay for welfare but our Education budget isn’t going to be where we think it should be at 4.5 and 4.5 [percent each year].

And I just thought something’s going on here and finally we just said I need to go back and talk to our two respective chairs, which I did, and they just said this is not going in the right direction.

Hauser: Who were those chairs?

Johnson: Senator Pogemiller [Tax chair], Senator Leroy Stumpf [Finance: K-12 chair], and Senator Berglin [Finance: HHS chair].

Those of you familiar with negotiations know that such exchanges can be borne of a commonly used technique. By asking your opponents opinion of a "straw man" such as this, you learn more about their priorites, sometimes even get the opportunity to box them in to your advantage. In negotiations, all that counts is the final deal.

Hauser: Senator, you had said after you came out of the meeting with the Governor a little after 9 o’clock that you thought you were getting close. When you think you might be getting close and it’s two and a half hours to go before that midnight deadline, it seems to me that’s when the pressure really starts to build. When you’re staring each other down, you see the clock ticking and that’s when people maybe tend to move more toward the middle. Why didn’t you take that opportunity?

Johnson: Well, we had received some reports coming out of the House of Representatives that they waiting for our continuing resolution which we had passed earlier and that they were going to start to put amendments on that were quite onerous.

And I thought, I made the decision, I could be criticized for it, I can be praised for it, I understand that, but rather than put the Minnesota Senate through an embarrassing time the last two hours of the session, we simply take a step back. We had passed a resolution to keep State government operational and therefore we should adjourn and come back Friday morning, which we have.

Johnson had a sinking feeling at 7pm but was "close" at 9pm. He was going to pull the plug over education at 7pm, but pull the plug to avoid - embarrassment? - at 9pm? The story changed within a single interview.

Minnesotans deserve better than this last vague response about unspecified "embarrassing" amendments. It seems unlikely at this point that this was true, as Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum contended later in this interview. But even if it was true, the embarrassment over the early adjounment is far worse. Even the unions cried foul.

Here, as Majority Leader, we can hold Senator Johnson to a higher standard of political inference, that he certainly knew how bad this was going to look, especially with such a weak excuse.

Now having said that, we again attempted on Friday to pass a [continuing] resolution which would have kept State government open. All the Democrats voted for it, Republicans voted against it. So on Saturday, we’re going to try again.

Hauser: Are some of the issues that you were talking about, was gay marriage one of them? Was it those types of things you think would have been embarrassing to the Senate to have to bring up at the eleventh hour?

Johnson: I think there were a whole host of issues that folks were talking about and communicating to me.

Hauser: Is that one of them?

Johnson: That could be one of them, right.

Put yourself in Senator Johnson's position. You have two choices: adjourn early as he did, or stay to the end. In the latter case, the Republicans may or may not bring up same-sex marriage. If they don't, there is a chance of getting a deal done as we'll see below. What do you do?

If the Republicans bring up same-sex marriage (or vouchers or some other non-budgetary matter), sit back and watch them self-destruct, on the national news no less. If they don't, and you strike a deal, hey isn't that what we all want? Even if you don't strike a deal, you're still no worse off than today. The only thing worse is going home early. That was clearly the worst possilble decision, as someone at the top of the leadership can be expected to know.

But wait, the Republicans could have agreed to the continuing resolution you say. They said they wouldn't without a deadline and you can hardly fault them for that. Suppose they had added just a single amendment or two, shortening the deadline and fixing the K-12 education shortfall. You aren't there to hear it or respond to it or get it done. The union heads clearly didn't buy this going home early strategy, either.

Hauser: Why were you reluctant to go with, like a ten day continuing resolution?

Johnson: We had that debate on the Senate floor, Tom. We had 30 days, we had 5 days, 8 days, and quite honestly, I had the amendment drafted for 15 days.

And as I visited with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, it’s kind of a two-edged sword. And that is, you put a certain number of days then that kind of takes you to that point, and then you have to make a decision. Where, if you leave it open-ended, which is what the Senate passed, the pressure is still on.

But I think we’ve spent enough time talking about yesterday. And as we said to media this morning, today is today. We made a good sound offer back to the Governor, back to the Speaker today, in writing, and that’s where we go from here.

Ridiculous. An open-ended resolution keeps the pressure on? Setting a firm date takes the pressure off? I thought we were at war with Oceania ...

I think Tom Hauser did a good job pressing Senator Johnson. And don't worry, Pawlenty got the same type of grilling on "Almanac" by Erik Eskola and Cathy Wurzer. Eskola landed a solid punch by noted that "some" were characterizing Pawlenty as acting like a Prime Minister, not a Governor. Amen to that.

But back to Dean Johnson, this time on the "Almanac" couch with Senate Minority Leader Dick Day, Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum and House Minority Leader Matt Entenza.

Wurzer: Senator Johnson, how can you explain this shutdown to the people of Minnesota?

Johnson: Well, the people of Minnesota have sent to us an election process of divided government. The House controlled by Republicans, a Republican Governor we just heard from, and a DFL controlled Senate and 201 members who are very passionate about what they believe in and what they think Minnesota government ought to be like. And that’s for starters.

Second of all, as we listen to the Governor tonight, and I agree with the Governor, our number one goal should be to finish this Special Session and set public employees back to work and Minnesota’s government back on track. That’s absolutely essential that we do this. No doubt about it.

It does little good for me to sit here and point my finger at Mr. Sviggum or Mr. Day or anybody. I’ve been given a privilege and an honor to be one of the Legislative leaders, take it very seriously. And our task now as the Conference Committee on Taxes is up at the Capitol working, [is as I have] instructed them to work hard and long this weekend to see what they can come up with.

Having said all that, I think there’s going to have to be some Legislative leadership coaching if you will, along the way.

When asked by a reporter this afternoon, “How long?” [I said] if hopes and prayers are to be fulfilled, I’d like to see by next Friday, this time.

From top to bottom, this is an entirely unresponsive answer.

Across both interviews I heard not one credible, competent, verifiable reason for his walking away, when as David Strom pointed out, the difference was within statistical error, well below one percent of the total budget. This was close enough already, and with two plus hours left to get even closer, assuming of course, that both sides really want a deal.

I read the totality of this and his statements earlier in this session and I conclude that Senator Johnson is simply lying, thinking he can repeat the 2004 election success, maybe becoming Governor himself. Again, this is my opinion. But I further note that (except for Nick Coleman), the Strib has been strangely subdued, unwilling to carry the usual amount of DFL water this trip. I suspect they're on to Dean Johnson as well.