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Capitol View®
Tim Pugmire

Ready for the road

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State lawmakers hit the road late next week, and also the following week, for a series of town hall meetings on the budget.

They want to hear what the public has to say about Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal for solving a $4.8 billion budget deficit. That shortfall is expected to grow when a new economic forecast comes out in two weeks. House and Senate leaders shared their expectations for the listening sessions today during their weekly briefing sessions with reporters.

The assistant majority leader in the Minnesota Senate, Sen Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, said she's looking forward to hearing from people who don't get to come to the Capitol.

"We're hoping to not just have kind of the usual suspects that come to town hall meetings, but to really get some good input and thoughts from Minnesotans," Clark said.

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, said she expects the meetings will produce some good suggestions for balancing the budget.

"I think that the collective wisdom of Minnesotans is much greater than 201 people sitting at the Capitol," Kelliher said. "So, I fully expect that we're going to learn some things we don't know about. And we're also going to get some ideas that had not surfaced before."

A Republican leader in the Minnesota Senate questioned the value of the meetings. Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, challenged DFL leaders to cut to the chase and release their alternative budget proposal. Hann said he already knows Democrats don't like the governor's budget.

"Why do we want to take this around the state and have a bunch of discussion on something they have no intention to act act on?," Hann asked.

House GOP Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, has toned down his earlier criticism of the meetings. He's no longer using the phrase "misery tour."

Seifert said he plans to participate in the meetings and listen to what people have to say. But Seifert also said he wants to hear budget solutions, not just complaints.

"I hope they don't turn into political basketball games, where the Democrats gin up the public employees and the liberal activists to come on one side, and our folks have a cluster of our like-minded people that show up," Seifert said. "And it just ends up being kind of a mini version of two state conventions, to jeer and cheer depending on what they think."

Here's a list of the scheduled meetings:

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009

Mankato: 6 p.m., Mankato Intergovernmental Center

Rochester: 6 p.m., Rochester Community and Technical College

St. Cloud: 6 p.m., St. Cloud City Hall Council Chambers

Willmar: 6 p.m., Kennedy Elementary School

Friday, Feb. 20, 2009

Albert Lea: 10 a.m., Albert Lea City Hall Council Chambers

Winona: 3:30 p.m., Winona City Hall Council Chambers

Marshall: 2:30 p.m., Southwest Minnesota State University Lecture Hall

Worthington: 10:30 a.m., Worthington City Hall Council Chambers

Little Falls: 9:30 a.m., Morrison County Government Center

Alexandria: 2 p.m., Alexandria City Hall

Duluth: 9:30 a.m., Duluth City Hall Council Chambers

Virginia: 1:30 p.m., Mesabi Range Community and Technical College

Brainerd: 10:30 a.m., Washington Educational Services Building

Bemidji: 3:30 p.m., Bemidji State University

In addition to the meetings, the Senate Tax Committee will be at Minnesota State University Moorhead on Feb. 20. The meeting will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Comstock Memorial Union.

Monday, Feb. 23

Woodbury: 6 p.m., Central Park Amphitheater

Tuesday, Feb. 24

Bloomington: 7 p.m., Bloomington City Hall

Minneapolis: 6 p.m., Minneapolis Park Board

Wednesday, Feb. 25

Burnsville: 7:30 p.m., Fairview Ridges Hospital

White Bear Lake:

6:30 p.m., White Bear Lake High School - South Campus

Thursday, Feb. 26

St. Paul: 6:00 p.m., West Minnehaha Rec. Center

Plymouth: 7:00 p.m., Plymouth City Hall

Coon Rapids: 7:00 p.m., Coon Rapids City Hall

Forest Lake: 6:30 p.m., Forest Lake City Hall