EckerNet.Com

This is a retraction I\’m more than happy to make and since it\’s about to slide off my front page I wanted to give this just as much attention as the original statement had. A week ago, I wrote that Pawlenty, Seifert and other Republicans had \”rolled over\” on the issue of the gas tax. And in my defense according to statements made in the local media it certainly appeared as if they were.

Shortly afterwards, Seifert wrote me an email stating his position and offering some ideas on how to move forward. I was happy to see that Seifert appears to indicate that he is not \”rolling over\” on this issue and I certainly hope that continues to be the case. Although as I indicated in follow-up emails, principles mean more to me than party, so criticism earned will be provided. But I have provided a clarification of his position in my original post.

However, in addition to stating his position, I think Seifert offered a lot of excellent ideas on moving forward. With his permission, I provide them here because I think they are more than worthy of notice and serious discussion.

When the victims are all recovered (which is very important to do first, before politics), our caucus leadership team will get the message out on OUR House Republican ideas to help with deficient bridges and roads.

8 ideas to Move Forward on Road and Bridge Repair

Overall, there will be some sacrifice needed to repair deficient bridges and build needed infrastructure like roads. The question is, who does the sacrificing? I would argue that it should be the government budget sacrificing before the family budget.

1. Before rushing in to raise taxes, let\’s certify the November budget forecast. It\’s expected to have a boat-load of surplus money (hundreds of millions of dollars of both on-going and one-time money), which could be used to pay for the needs of infrastructure. How silly would it look to rush into a September-October special session to raise taxes, just to have hundreds of millions of dollars (or more) certified in November as surplus?
2. Before rushing in to raise taxes, let\’s use the $135 million from the defunct Bonding Bill of 2007 for deficient local roads and bridges.
3. Let\’s examine government spending top to bottom. Would taxpayers want money to be spent on a deficient bridge or the Gorilla and Polar Bear exhibit at the Como Zoo…or more welfare…or a 17% increase in the legislature\’s budget…or many other items? We pick deficient bridges first.
4. The legislature will have a $1 billion Bonding Bill for 2008. Raising taxes in a special session will simply allow waste and pork in addition to the tax increase. Our caucus will force votes on amendments and demand that a huge chunk of that money go to pay for roads and bridges. The people of Minnesota deserve priorities in spending.
5. The MVST dedication can be sped up. Let\’s do it. Let\’s leverage some of that money for Trunk Highway bonding to move forward on major improvements that need to be done.
6. We\’ve been told that permits and regulations are strangling the ability to quickly and efficiently more forward in reconstruction of bridges. It\’s pretty safe to say that the waivers for the collapsed bridge will hasten its reconstruction by almost 2 years. Why not waive these for any deficient bridge on the DOT list?
7. The Stillwater bridge is rated lower than the bridge that collapsed. Yet, special interest groups have had lawsuits filed to keep the bridge from moving toward replacement. Time to move forward with tort reform.
8. The House Republicans offered a plan to use about $250 million from the general fund last year for roads and bridges. With the vetoes and line-item vetoes, this is a safe number. We will again demand to use this money before raising taxes.

It certainly appears as if Seifert has all intentions of being the rational adult in the room. Let\’s hope that the local DFL listens to reason, and the rather explicit will of the people, and finds ways to fund repairs without taxing us to death.