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Tim Pawlenty

Skyrocketing college tuition

by The Big E on March 13, 2013

It’s time to invest in Minnesota’s future!
 
Students nowadays are more screwed than ever before. They’re leaving college carrying heavier and heavier burdens of debt. The reason is the Repblicans. They’ve both cut funding (nationally and here in Minnesota) and empowered the same criminals who nearly bankrupt the economy to get into the business of becoming student loan sharks.
 
Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty oversaw the biggest education cuts in the history of Minnesota. Current students are paying the price for Pawlenty’s tax cuts for the wealthy.
 
Check out the graphic below. Students in the University of Minnesota system are paying 45.8% more than they were paying in 2006. And our funding has gone down in the vicinity of 20% to 40%. Coincidence?
 

 

These tuition spikes and funding cuts have a disastrous impact on students, as all these trends come amidst a student-loan crisis that has already reached record heights. Student debt now totals $902 billion, larger than credit card debt. It averages around $27,000 per student in the class of 2011, according to estimates by the College Board. That’s debt that can’t be easily discharged in bankruptcy, that can be garnished from social security benefits or wages by the federal government. That’s debt taken on by students for a good that used to be public. Many of the same villains from the financial crisis are now profiting on the growth of student loans, with banks now marketing private student loans directly to students.
(Daily Kos)

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Pawlenty moans about dysfunction caused by Republicans

by The Big E on February 9, 2013

Tim Pawlenty tried to reposition himself as a hard right, fire-breather when he ran for President in 2011. Republican primary voters saw through his repositioning and combined with his lack of charisma his campaign never achieved lift-off (or endangered any trees at the end of the runway).

Like most failed Republican politicians, Governor Gutshot failed upwards. He’s now heading the Financial Roundtable. That’s the advocacy group for the banks that have crippled our country. And isn’t he perfect for the role?

Timmeh addressed a meeting in Washington, DC of something called the Business Roundtable:

“It’s a deeply divided country,” Pawlenty said. “Sadly, we have become a government by crisis. Things get done only when there is a moment of crisis, when people are staring into the abyss, and then, and only then, are they able to lurch forward, sometimes awkwardly, sometimes more significantly.”

This was not good news for executives trying to push politicians toward a broad-based, long-term solution for the nation’s deficit spending.

Blandly obvious statements? Check.

But Pawlenty said he doesn’t see Washington returning soon to an era where politicians are as pragmatic as they are ideological.

“Almost all moderates have been systematically eliminated from ­elective office,” he said.

Kinda true but clearly missing the cause which everyone else sees? Check.

While he didn’t mention President Obama by name, Pawlenty suggested that a strong executive speaking with a “single voice” from a “bully pulpit” might have to fill the void left by a House and Senate that will not work together and a White House and Congress that don’t trust one another.

Bland non-blaming-assigning mealy-mouthed language? Check.

Sounds like the real Tim Pawlenty is back.

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ISU spurned Pawlenty’s speaking fee

by Dan Burns on January 8, 2013

This story finally found its way into my Pawlenty-tracking inbox, last week.  It’s for kind of a slow morning, just waiting for the MN lege to get underway (at which point Conservadems will presumably infuriate me by insisting that now isn’t the time to go raising taxes on those poor picked-upon rich people).

When former Gov. Tim Pawlenty was running for president last year, the Harkin Institute of Public Policy at Iowa State University wanted him to give a speech there.

But when Pawlenty’s agent said the fee would be $25,000, plus expenses, university officials decided to pass, AP reports.

As far as what the market will bear, preposterous as it sounds, $25K probably wasn’t too excessive an asking price for a third-tier dweeb like TBag, spouting off to an audience of naïve, star-struck Young Republicans and half-drunk local corporate honchos.  The business is quite a scam; this list, which is worth a brief look if you’ve read this far, appears to be from a few years ago.  Which is why it’s all the more embarrassing for Timmy that Iowa State passed, though the university tried to smooth things over by insisting that they don’t pay for anyone.  The real issue is where Pawlenty gets off, expecting public institutions to pay for the likes of him.

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Pawlenty is undoubtedly giving satisfaction

by Dan Burns on November 30, 2012

Former Minnesota governor and failed GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has been at his new “career” for some time now.

Seeking his party’s nomination last year, Pawlenty tried to shed a competent-but-bland conservative profile. He engaged in Tea Party-lite attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He opposed raising the national debt ceiling, even if that meant a government default and possible economic calamity. And he went on CNN (TWX), CNBC, and Fox (NWSA) to deliver “a truth message” to Wall Street: “Get your snout out of the trough.”

Today that’s a tad awkward. As chief executive officer of the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), he now works on behalf of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), and the 96 other members of the Roundtable, which has 50 employees and spent $7.7 million on lobbying in 2011, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. A look of annoyance briefly clouds Pawlenty’s placid face when this is noted. No, he says, he sees no inconsistency.

As a matter of fact, I don’t see any inconsistency, either, though not of course in the same way that TBag perceives it.  It’s a sick, corrupt system that we have, and Timmy is certainly psychologically suited to thrive within it.  He’s been a sorry little suck-up to the rich and powerful throughout his adult life. His new gig isn’t even challenging;  the foundation for what he’s working toward – continued economic rule by the loathsome parasites of the financial industry – is already in place.  All he has to do is go out every day and lay the right mix of flattery and threat on craven elected officials.  Takes one to know one.  And Minnesotans are still paying the price, and will be for a while longer, for the kind of “one” that he is.

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GOP Apple Tree – - Part I – - Track Record

by InformedVoter on November 13, 2012

This is the first in a series of essays on why I believe the Republican Party (“RPM”) of Minnesota is a dead organization that will be replaced by something new within the year.  The first few entries will explain why I think the party is dead.  Then I will outline one scenario about what I think could replace it.

Big money is going to stay away from RPM because it is not worth investing in anymore for several reasons.  Smart money will go to the new alternative.

This series of notes is called the GOP Apple Tree because it is based on how to value an asset in which you are asked to invest.  Suppose your neighbor offered to sell you a small plot of adjoining land on which there grows an apple tree.  How much you should pay for the land and the tree depends on how you value the assets.

What is the apple tree worth if you chopped it down and sold it as firewood?  Should you value the tree on the basis of next year’s crop?  Ten years’ worth of projected crops?  The shade offered by the tree?  The cost of taxes on the land?   The utility of the land, whether or not the tree remains?  Alternative values and returns you could reap if you invested your money in some other investment?  There are a lot of factors for an intelligent investor to consider.

So assume you are an investor who has been asked to invest $50,000 in the RPM.  What questions would you ask before you looked to see if there was a batter and new place to put your money?

A first question might be, “how has the RPM done in state-wide elections over the past ten years?

Does 1 for 21 sound good to you?  Smart money will look for a new alternative.

If you are 1 for 21 over ten years, even Ron Gardenhire would send you down to the minors and look for a better investment.

2012     Barack Obama(52.65%)         Mitt Romney       (44.96  %)       RPM LOSS
2012     Amy Klobuchar   (65.23%)     Kurt Bills               (30.53%)      RPM LOSS
2010     Mark Dayton       (43.63%)     Tom Emmer          (43.21%)      RPM LOSS
2010     Mark Ritchie  (49.10%)           Dan Severson  (45.64%)      RPM LOSS
2010     Rebecca Otto       (48.39%)     Pat Anderson        (47.13%)      RPM LOSS
2010     Lori Swanson  (52.90%)     Chris Barden          (41.27%)      RPM LOSS
2010     Helen Meyer  (58.01%)     Greg Wersal          (41.79%)      RPM LOSS
2010     Alan Page  (63.29%)     Tim Tingelstad     (36.53%)      RPM LOSS
2008     Barack Obama  (54.06%)     John McCain         (43.82%)      RPM LOSS
2008     Al Franken  (41.99%)     Norm Coleman    (41.98%)      RPM LOSS
2008     Paul Anderson (60.41%   Tim Tingelstad (39.21%)      RPM LOSS
2008     Terri Stoneburner (58.70%)  Dan Griffith            (40.89%)      RPM LOSS
2006     Amy Klobuchar      (58.06%)  Mark Kennedy       (37.94%)      RPM LOSS
2006     Mike Hatch  (45.73%)     Tim Pawlenty         (46.69%)      RPM WIN
2006     Mark Ritchie  (49.09%)     Mary Kiffmeyer      (44.16%)      RPM LOSS
2006     Rebecca Otto  (51.92%)     Pat Anderson         (41.08%)      RPM LOSS
2006     Lori Swanson  (53.24%)     Jeff Johnson            (40.72%)      RPM LOSS
2006     Chris Dietzen  (56.04%)     Dan Griffith             (43.63%)      RPM LOSS
2004     John Kerry  (51.09%)     George Bush           (47.61%)      RPM LOSS
2004    Alan Page   (72.01%)     Tim Tingelstad         (27.75%)      RPM LOSS
2004    Jim Randall(62.15%)     Dan Griffith              (37.57%)      RPM LOSS

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Wretched, Miserable Vermin Abandons Modern-Day Titanic

by Dan Burns on September 21, 2012

This is really, in context, not a very important story at all.  But I’ve done so much blogging about former Minnesota governor and GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty, over the years, that I feel some sort of compulsion to type out a few thoughts on today’s (Thursday’s) news.

One thing we know about Tim Pawlenty: He is not afraid to quit! Today, the Financial Services Roundtable, Wall Street’s deepest pocketed and most influential lobbying organization, announced that Pawlenty is leaving Romney’s campaign to become its new leader, replacing longtime head Steve Bartlett. See ya later, Romney!

Twitter greeted the news with a million-and-one variations of rats-vacating-sinking-ships metaphors, but Pawlenty’s move is meaningful for much more than what it signals about the state of Romney’s foundering campaign. Think of it this way: As a consolation prize for not being nominated as president, Pawlenty gets a $2 million-a-year job defending a lobbying group whose fingerprints are all over the great financial crash crime scene. What more do we need to know about the corrupt state of modern American politics? Pawlenty could have been president – instead, his job will now be to dismantle and obstruct financial sector legislation.

I’m not sure where his new bosses got the idea of Pawlenty being some sort of charismatic, get-things-done kind of guy.  His governorship was all about blocking, not accomplishing.  And there’s a very off-putting, repellent smugness about the man, that seems to have worsened with time.  But, he will have plenty of other people’s money to turn to odious purposes.  Right up his alley. More below the fold.
It occurred to me that Timmy’s exit from Willard’s campaign may not have been entirely voluntary;  there’s presumably plenty of infighting and CYA assigning of blame going on among the troops.  I mean, the guy was national co-chair.  But I’ve seen nothing whatsoever to back that up.  Plenty of Romney’s minions are likely grateful at somebody setting the precedent, as they work the phones and computers for better opportunities – anything at all – themselves.

The abandonment does reinforce the opinion of many, including me, that many of Romney’s own people don’t have any particular loyalty, and for that matter don’t even especially like the guy, any more than a great many voters do. What’s to like?  Dull, self-absorbed, conceited, phony, no sense of humor…Mitt Romney’s about two things, money and power, and so are the people around him.  Doesn’t make for a whole lot of team spirit, when things aren’t looking good.  

From Minnesota’s perspective, this is potentially the part that matters.

“With this new position, Governor Pawlenty is taking off the table running for U.S. Senate or governor in 2014,” McClung said in an email. Pawlenty himself did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

I gotta admit that I’m not embracing that one with wholehearted belief.  It’s certainly true that Minnesotans are happy to see TBag gone, and don’t want him back.  But he loves power, and I think that he feels very uncomfortable at the possibility of his political legacy being ultimately defined by his going out as a serious loser.  But I can hope.

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Tim Pawlenty’s jokes crash land at RNC, no survivors

by The Big E on August 31, 2012

Former Minnesota Governor and failed 2012 Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty tried out some new material at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL. His lack of charisma and inability to tell a joke hindered his ability to get his campaign airborne. Truthfully, his campaign never really made it that far down the runway.

But he hoped a friendly crowd and new material might resurrect his future in Republican politics. It most likely didn’t. Reviews were bad and worse.

- “Good evening everyone, and welcome to Barack Obama’s retirement party!”

- “I hear Joe’s (Biden) particularly interested in tonight’s proceedings. He even thought about coming here to Tampa. And he’s taking notes because when Paul Ryan speaks, Joe will finally get to hear what a real vice president sounds like!

- “But you know, President Obama isn’t as bad as people say, he’s actually worse.”

- “The president takes more vacations than that guy on the Bizarre Foods show.”

- “And I’ll give Barack Obama credit for creating jobs these last four years – for golf caddies.”

- “I’ve come to realize that Barack Obama is the tattoo president. Like a big tattoo, it seemed cool when you were young.
But later on, that decision doesn’t look so good, and you wonder: what was I thinking?”

- “Barack Obama’s failed us. But look, it’s understandable. A lot of people fail at their first job.”

- “With any luck, in a few months, Barack Obama will at last get some experience in the private sector.”
(Bring Me The News)

It’s pretty clear from his delivery why these jokes failed.

But the swipe at my friend Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods, was particularly lame. Andrew responded …

I loved the shout out. It would have been nice if you mentioned my name since we have known each other pretty well for a dozen or so years, but I understand you’re being respectful and not making it personal. I do. And while we don’t agree on the issues, and are from very different sides of the aisle, the last thing I want to do is add to the acrimony. But where are you getting your facts? President Obama and I share a lot of passion and commitment to same issues, one of which is work ethic. I only take off a few days per month, I think I had 4 in August and only have 2 or 3 days off in September. And on those days I was sneaking work calls while my wife wasn’t looking and returning messages on my phone ’til the wee hours. The President doesn’t need me to remind the world that he never takes a day off. I had the privilege of seeing that up close and personal at the White House last spring when he spent half of a holiday working away while his family took care of his personal commitments. Thanks though for keeping the Minnesota love flowing and for putting me in such great company. Links below to all the fun for those that missed the Republican National Convention speeches last night.
(AndrewZimmern.com)

Then consider how many vacations the last Republican President took. Dubya spent 967 days on vacation or at some kind of retreat. That’s 120 per year. That means he only worked 245 days per year.

I want a job that gives me 24 weeks of vacation per year. I wanna be a lazy pig like His Shrubness.

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This is why winning Governor races is so important

by The Big E on August 30, 2012

The four judges that Governor Tim Pawlenty appointed ruled in favor of the Republicans. The two judges not appointed by Pawlenty dissented. The Republicans won the court battles. Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie will not be allowed to modify the amendment titles to more accurately reflect what they are about. And we lost our suit to remove the so-called “Voter ID” constitutional amendment from the ballot because it is a bait-and-switch that isn’t about ID cards but about eliminating same-day registration, absentee balloting and military voting.

This is what happens when you don’t win a Gubernatorial race for 30 years.

It’s a strong argument for pragmatism over how progressive our candidate is.

Or is it a strong argument for building up better DFL infrastructure? Is each Senate or County unit ready and able to deliver their district for any DFL statewide candidate? Are we recruiting strong candidates with lots of potential? Are we building a strong farm team?

Or is it a strong argument for better coordination amongst the DFL, caucuses and the coordinated campaign?

Or do we need to get all three right for every statewide race?

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Pawlenty’s Appointed Judges Rule; Now What?

by TwoPuttTommy on August 28, 2012

As noted by fellow MPP Blogger The Big E (Justice Page Got It Right), all four Pawlenty Appointees ruled as the majority today on lawsuits concerning Constitutional Amendments on November’s ballot.  For this discussion, I’m going to focus on the decision regarding the ballot names for the amendments, and then discuss the Voter Suppression Amendment. Joining Justice Page in dissent on ballot names was Justice Paul Anderson (not to be confused with Pawlenty’s republican pick, G. Gordon “Barry” Anderson).  Both of their dissents were blistering; I prefer Justice Paul Anderson’s – read them both here.

Be that as it may, the Pawlenty Appointees held court.  So, now what?  There’s only three things that can be done to limit the damage the GOP’s Voter Suppression Amendment will do, and I’ll count them down:  3) Take back the State House and the State Senate.  The rules on how the Amendment will actually work are still to be written; the GOP basically said, to all of the objections:  ”Trust us.”  Yeah, “right.”  Trust the GOP, which as a party is so financially incompetent they can’t pay their rent??!?  And that’s just for starters. Always remember this: You Couldn’t Trust The GOP Then, You Still Can’t Now, And Tomorrow Won’t Be Any Different 2) Get rid of one of the four Pawlenty Appointees by voting for Dean Barkley, who is running against G. Gordon “Barry” Anderson.  1) Beat the damned Amendment in November.

For several reasons why this Voter Suppression Amendment is so noxious, here’s a recent interview of State Representative Steve Simon:


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Pawlenty insults CNN’s Soledad O’Brien on behalf of Romney

by The Big E on August 17, 2012

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty set down his frac sand shovel for a few moments to shill for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on CNN. CNN’s Soledad O’Brien has been quite obstinate about people lying lately. She must not know that talking heads on TV aren’t supposed to question Republicans claims.

Governor BridgeFail pushed the Republican lie that Obama cut Medicare. O’Brien countered the Republicans claim that Obama cut Medicare. In fact, Obamacare didn’t touch benefits paid to seniors, but cut profits going to pharmaceutical companies.

Who better to hit back at O’Brien than the sniveling TPaw. Gov. Gutshot wasn’t going to let her get away with preventing him from lying so he called her stupid.

“But, sir, it’s not a cut in Medicare, right?” O’Brien observed. “Let me just read from the CBO. It’s a ‘permanent reduction in the annual updates to Medicaid’s payment rates.’ It’s a cut in the spending — future spending. And it’s cut that actually goes to insurers, right? I mean, it’s not cuts to individuals.”

“No matter how you say this, it’s a cut to Medicare,” Pawlenty insisted. “You can’t even with a straight face, look your viewers in the eye and tell [them] that it’s not a cut to Medicare.”

“Well, I can’t look viewers in the eye from where I am,” O’Brien pointed out. “I’m saying the way the CBO puts it. … That is a savings.”

“Do you know what that is in English?” Pawlenty quipped.

“I speak English incredibly well, sir, as you know,” O’Brien shot back.
(Crooks and Liars)

What a jerk.

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