Mn/DOT Discipline

Now that three Mn/DOT supervisors have been disciplined for inadequate oversight of Sonia Pitt, the fired Homeland Security and Emergency Management director, the Dems still want more according to the Press here and here. It doesn’t make any difference how many layers of management there was between Pitt and Commissioner Molnau, the Dems will not be satisfied until they remove the Commissioner.

To the Dems, it won’t make any difference that Pitt was a difficult employee according to the report—belligerent, aggressive and "difficult to work with." It won’t make any difference that the report says many Mn/DOT managers "did not want to have her under their supervision." Somehow this is all Molnau’s fault.

To the Dems, like Murphy, Clark and Kalin, it won’t make any difference that an investigation into Pitt had already commenced before the I-35W bridge collapsed. This investigation may very well have lead to discipline or dismissal of Pitt that would have gone unnoticed by DFL legislators. Of course in that case, Molnau would never have received praise for the good work in her department.

But the collapsing bridge exposed Pitt before that ongoing investigation could be completed. And now Molnau is charged with guilt. If Molnau is to be that involved in the daily activities of each of the 4,700 Mn/DOT employees and supervisors, she would never have time for running the department. But for too many Dems, any excuse will do to get at Pawlenty by attacking Molnau.

Sad to say, if all this had happened under a Democrat administration, none of the Dems would have made any complaint about their Commissioner of Transportation. The issue isn’t about Mn/DOT spending tax dollars wisely; it is about increasing taxation. The issue isn’t about misconduct; it’s about getting rid of Molnau for any excuse. At the same time any Democrat excuse will excuse Mark Richie.

Rukavina on the Kool-Aid

Check out this article on True North.

Kalin’s Spin Machine

The LAC approved $60 million for Mn/DOT from cash reserves until federal money arrives. Rep. Kalin (D-17B) posted this press release on the subject.

He wrote, "It became clear that the Governor's temporary request was not to keep the bridge replacement on track but rather the other projects around the state on track. The TCAG short-term authorization ensures that 2008 planned projects can proceed, along with the unexpected 35W bridge replacement."

It’s getting impossible to believe what Kalin writes. Either he has a distorted view of reality so that he writes what he believes or he deliberately changes reality to smear and gain votes.

Of course Mn/DOT can’t replace the bridge and do the scheduled transportation projects on the budget that it had for the scheduled transportation projects! It is a given the bridge needs to be rebuilt even if that means putting other projects on hold. No one in the administration or Mn/DOT wants that.

Furthermore, no one was asking for more money for scheduled transportation projects until the bridge collapsed and until the promised $195 million for the bridge from the feds was jeopardized by a threatened veto because of excessive pork in the bill. Apparently Kalin refuses to understand basic cash flow.

Kalin wants to turn it on the Governor that his request for $195 million (with $60 million approval) was to cover un(der)funded 2008 planned projects rather than the I-35W bridge. Kalin is playing politics again.

The Star Tribune article does not support Kalin’s take. It says, "In legislative hearings over the past three weeks, MnDOT officials revealed an upcoming cash crunch related to replacing the I-35W bridge (italics added)." It cannot be clearer than that. The Pioneer Press does not support Kalin’s statement either.

Kalin loves innuendo, stretching the truth, ignoring facts, manufacturing suspicion and operating the spin machine. I cannot trust anything he says.

Design-build Bid Explanation

The Mn/DOT web site has a significant amount of information about the process of selecting the contract for building the I-35W bridge.

There is an explanation of the evaluation for the bridge replacement proposals. The scores for each of the bids that were determined by each of the six people on the technical review committee are provided on page 12 of this document.

The Department of Administration has also submitted a document entitled Bridge Replacement Project Protest Determination. The bidding process is reviewed in this document. I call attention to one specific point made in the introduction.

Finally, it goes without saying that the enormity of the I-35W bridge tragedy has understandably resulted in unprecedented scrutiny of every aspect of the removal and rebuilding processes and has been the focus of intense public dialogue. Consequently, it is essential to provide assurance that significant efforts have been made to ensure that this protest response is as independent, objective and free of politics as possible. Specifically, the individuals signing it are its sole authors [identified on page 1]. Both are civil service employees who are protected in their jobs even if they happen to displease their agency head or other stakeholders. No elected or appointed officials were involved in any way with this document’s content. None attempted to influence the outcome. None requested or received a draft copy. None were aware of the findings and conclusions prior to its publication. The only other individuals who saw this document prior to its release were legal counsel assigned to this matter by the Office of the Attorney General and a state manager and an in-house legal resource in the Administration Department’s Materials Management Division who reviewed for form and clarity.

Bridge Funding

Pawlenty asks Legislative Advisory Commission to approve request for additional appropriation

Today, October 15th, the Governor sent a letter to the LAC to request approval of sufficient funds to commence building the bridge. Read the news article....

The LAC is comprised of Senators Larry Pogemiller, Richard Cohen, Steve Murphy and Michael Jungbauer and Representatives Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Loren Solberg, Bernard Lieder and Doug Magnus.

The LAC met today. Here is the story.

Stopgap spending on roads, bridges sets up showdown
Legislators OK spending $60 million to stop delays. Pawlenty sought at least $145 million.
By Pat Doyle

Seeking to avert a threatened slowdown in road and bridge construction, legislators on Monday authorized the state to spend $60 million more over the next several months to keep projects on schedule.

But Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the extra money probably won't be enough to rebuild the Interstate 35W bridge and keep other needed construction projects on pace through the first half of 2008.

Finish the story here.

___________________________________________

The Dems just can’t give all the necessary funding for the bridge because that would remove the most significant reason to conduct their desired oversight of Mn/DOT and make political hay. Kelliher thinks there is a veil of secrecy at Mn/DOT. If this were a Dem administration, the LAC would have itched to give more to Mn/DOT than what was requested. These people go out of their way to stick their fingers in the eyes of the Governor and Lt. Governor.

Addendum

Here is the Pioneer Press article on LAC approving $60 million for bridge work.

And now two Minnesotans have filed suit against Mn/DOT for awarding the bid for the bridge. Read here and here.

Brian McClung, communication director for the Governor, wrote an editorial, stating that federal regulations make the state-hired bridge collapse investigation information confidential until the NTSB report is final. Here is one paragraph he wrote:

"Nevertheless, the Strib reporters, in what has become an all-too-common occurrence, virtually ignored the information provided to them in order to stir up a tempest with their article. Although the Minnesota Department of Transportation told the reporters that federal law required the investigative information to be nonpublic prior to completion of the NTSB's investigation, that fact was buried in the eighth paragraph, and the opposite sentiment was expressed in the headline."

A Good Assessment

The following is a letter to the editor in the October 11, 2007 issue of the Chisago County press. Since it is not online, it is reproduced here for the benefit of our readers.

Kalin should redirect energy

To the editor:
Instead of working towards a solution in regards to the bridge tragedy Rep. Kalin continues to politicize the tragedy for partisan political gain. Unfortunately much of what Kalin had to say in last week’s paper was nothing more than speculation, innuendo, falsehoods and political spin.

Just four months ago Rep. Kalin voted to spend over $4.1 billion on various transportation related projects (few of which were related to safety) and now he can’t find the rationale for approving what he referred to as an "unprecedented" cash advance of $200 million to kick start the building of a new I-35W bridge until federal money shows up. It seems that Kalin thinks the public should be concerned because MNDOT didn’t have $200 million sitting in the bank on July 31 waiting for a bridge to fall down. Maybe someone should tell Mr. Kalin that a bridge falling down IS "unprecedented" in Minnesota and his help may be required to get a replacement bridge built.

Among the other complaints Kalin had from last week is that "excessive bonuses" of $600,000 are being paid to the losing bidders of the I-35W bridge rebuild. I realize that Mr. Kalin has no background in bridge building or finances, but that’s a poor excuse for not being truthful on the issue. The fact is that these payments are called "stipends" and not "bonuses". Stipends are common in very large design-build transportation projects and are paid out for legitimate public purposes. But, admittedly, the term "excessive bonus" sounds much more sinister in the paper.

Continuing on, Kalin then rightfully complained that a MNDOT employee responsible for emergency management stayed at an east coast business conference and couldn’t be bothered to come home for 10 days after the bridge collapsed. This is a good and important question and deserves, at minimum, an honest answer. However, not stopping there, he went on to make false accusations that this employee spent $26,000 of taxpayer paid travel on what Kalin referred to as "personal pleasure".

The rest of Kalin’s article was nothing more than an Eddie Haskell like exercise of telling people what he thinks they want to hear under the guise of sounding thoughtful and dispassionate. It’s too bad this energy can’t instead be used on the productive work of getting a new bridge built and making our roads and bridges safer.

Bob Barrett
Shafer

Busybodies

The Democrats are still dragging out the financing of the collapsed bridge. Of course they know it is very simple. They know the feds are holding up the $195 million. They know the Governor has done all that is necessary to secure these funds. They know the $2.2 billion rainy day fund is designed for emergencies like this. They know it will be reimbursed. They know the Mn/DOT budget will be OK apart from the bridge emergency. They know the bridge must be rebuilt.

But....dragging out the solution gives them an opportunity to come up with gotchas to reject Carol Molnau.

And they will do everything in their power to make it look like a special session is essential so they can raise taxes.

Then too, Mn/DOT needs their oversight or so they think. These legislators must strut their stuff and moan that they have been shut out of the process. Let the professionals do their job. Just as the Dems in Congress don’t want the generals to fight the war, so these Dems in the legislature don’t want the professionals replacing a bridge on their own. They might make a mistake— well actually, the legislators might miss an opportunity to be self-serving.

Self-importance has become a significant problem among legislators. They act more like kings and queens than servants. These do-gooders are probably itching for a year around legislative session. Most of us can’t wait for the legislative session to be done each year so they don’t do any more damage to our freedoms and pocketbooks. Get the people’s business done. Go home and work like the rest of us must. If you wouldn’t keep poking your nose into our business, maybe you wouldn’t keep raising our taxes so much.

Click here to see all the legislative committees that are meeting even while the legislature is adjourned. They are plotting for February.

Democrat Chutzpah

DFLers balk at approving stopgap I-35W bridge money
Panel's members want answers to host of MnDOT questions
BY BILL SALISBURY

"Democrats on a Minnesota legislative panel are balking at giving Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty the $195 million he says is needed to avoid delaying other highway projects because of a funding snag for rebuilding the Interstate 35W bridge."

Read the whole article...

___________________________________________

Anyone capable of understanding fund accounting knows that Carol Molnau and the Department of Transportation cannot be blamed for a shortage of money to rebuild the collapsed bridge. The department receives its money from the legislature. It’s budget is allocated to projects.

When a failed bridge must be replaced, either its whole funding must be infused into the Mn/DOT’s budget or other projects must be delayed to free up dollars to pay for the top priority. It’s rather simple.

It’s not Molnau’s fault that the promised $195 million from the feds is being threatened with a veto by President Bush because the transportation bill is stuffed with pork.

Given the potential delay of receiving this money, it is understandable that legislators and the Governor are cautious about how to fund this temporarily out of state reserves, which should be reimbursed by the feds. That should be regarded as a non-political accounting matter.

In the end, the Donkeys will quit their stiff-legged resistance just in time to avoid actually delaying bridge reconstruction because they do not want to be accused of that. In the meantime, they grandstand to set the stage to remove Molnau as Commissioner.

Prior to the bridge collapse, where was this chorus of Dem falsettos over Molnau and DOT’s use of funds? These Dems shamelessly use a tragedy as an occasion to manufacture fear that other projects won’t be built when it is in their power to provide the temporary funding that will be reimbursed just to attack Molnau. They brazenly use a federal pork-barrel funding fiasco to manufacture a crisis in the state DOT and specifically with Molnau’s leadership.

Mike Nifong found it’s easy to manufacture charges. It certainly appears these Dems are doing the same in Minnesota. The public is not stupid. We are capable of differentiating between manufactured and genuine charges.

The public also expects Democrat legislators to ask Mn/DOT tough questions. After all, both the DOT and legislators work for us. But we also know when they are asking the questions with ulterior motives. It’s getting disgusting–very disgusting.

Check out this commentary as well.

Senatorial Partisanship

On August 21, Senator Rick Olseen (D-17) wrote a news release entitled Time to Invest in Transportation Infrastructure. With the need to rebuild the I-35W bridge is mind, he wrote:

The time is now to come together in the spirit of compromise and bipartisanship to reach a solution that properly addresses the funding deficiencies that have been plaguing our transportation system for many years.

On September 12, he wrote about the one day special session to provide disaster relief, saying:

I’m pleased that the governor and Legislature were able to work together and deliver this much-needed relief to those who have been affected by this disaster. Although I am disappointed that this special session did not address the broad safety concerns facing our state’s roads and bridges, I’m hopeful that this spirit of compromise will continue and an agreement on a comprehensive transportation package will be reached in time for the 2008 Legislative Session.

While we may not agree with all of Senator Olseen’s solutions, his tone is much appreciated. He expresses that the Governor, Senate and House must work together for Minnesota, laying partisanship aside.

After this seeming good start, however, Olseen is now lining up with his DFL buddies against the Pawlenty administration, calling for the resignation of Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau. T.W. Budig reports about Olseen:

"The best possible thing for her (Molnau) is to gracefully resign and pass the torch to someone else," said Sen. Rick Olseen, DFL-Harris, speaking at a Wednesday (Sept. 26) press conference in the shadow of the Lafayette Bridge on the Mississippi River in St. Paul.

What happened to the spirit of compromise and bipartisanship? He has joined the attack dogs. Without adequately stating publicly any actual causes or reasons, the wolf pack just wants to take her down. The dogs smell blood and will not be satisfied until they get it.

With this latest declaration, we now should return to his two press releases. Perhaps we need to read them as a statement that the Republican Governor needs to demonstrate a spirit of compromise and bipartisanship and that Olseen was not personally adopting a spirit of compromise and bipartisanship. If that is not the case, he has changed his attitude from August to September.

Once this attitude is adopted, Molnau will not be able to do anything right in the eyes of the attack dogs. Anything that goes wrong (and there is plenty of that), will be her fault even if it is not her fault. We had hoped for a statesman; we are getting a partisan politician.

More on Kalin’s Small Potatoes

The total price of replacing the I-35W bridge and related costs could reach $393 million according to the Pioneer Press.

All of us should be concerned with the enormous cost of this project. While many Dems are aghast at the price tag, Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-17B) is still counting the small potatoes. See his press release which was also published in the various local newspapers this week.

Probably more than $393 million will be spent, but Kalin is locked on to two small dollar figures when compared to the hundreds of millions: 1. “...up to $26,000 of her [Mn/DOT's Sonia Morphew Pitt] taxpayer-paid travel was for personal pleasure...” and 2. “...excessive bonuses going to the losing bidders of the 35W bridge contract – to the tune of $600,000...”

Regarding the first point, the personnel review underway may very well disclose some improper use of tax dollars, but it would probably be far less than $26,000. No one who pays taxes wants government waste, but Kalin is so occupied with this that he has not expressed any proper concern in his latest article about the extremely large cost of the project.

Second, his complaint about excessive bonuses for the losing bidders ignores that it is required by state statute. Chapter 161.3426, Subd. 3 mandates:

"The commissioner shall award a stipulated fee not less than two-tenths of one percent of the department's estimated cost of design and construction to each short-listed, responsible proposer who provides a responsive but unsuccessful proposal."

Doing this math yields a $500,000 stipend for each unsuccessful design-build bidder on a $250 million project. It’s time our legislator reads the requirement of the statutes and quits attacking the Pawlenty/Molnau administration for supposed incompetence in this area. Whether a Republican or Democrat administration, this is the law–end of matter.

The design-build concept is relatively new to state law. According to former legislator Phil Krinkie, this provision was put in place in 2001 to fast track the Hiawatha Light Rail Line and was supposed to save money. The stipend that consumes Kalin is small potatoes compared to the rest of the provisions of the law. Rather than taking the lowest bidder, it provides for accepting the bid of “best value.”

Mn/DOT has selected the highest bid–$57 million more than the low bid. Another $27 million can be had through bonuses. And this bidder has the longest work schedule by more than two months. These are issues that Kalin should be pursuing because these are the big potatoes.

The real problem is the “best value” law which is administered by bureaucrats which has given us the boondoggle of the excessive cost of LRT, now the bridge, and more to come. The idea isn’t working and should be removed from state law. The lowest, qualified bidder system worked well.

Eventually Kalin may complain about these excessive costs, but it is doubtful he will address the law that creates it because that law caters to liberal thinking. He’d rather use the small potatoes improperly or merely potentially to attack a Republican administration than address true government waste.

More Democrat Rhetoric

Molnau should leave MnDOT post, legislator urges governor

Pawlenty says he won't fire MnDOT commissioner Carol Molnau in response to charges by the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee that she is incompetent.
Article by Mark Brunswick

"In an escalating war of words, the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday said Gov. Tim Pawlenty should fire Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau -- who is also lieutenant governor -- for what he said were numerous examples of incompetence.

A Pawlenty spokesman said the governor's office would not fire Molnau, who has faced criticism and renewed calls for her ouster since the collapse of the Interstate-35W bridge in Minneapolis on Aug. 1.

While he did not directly blame Molnau's stewardship for the collapse of the bridge, Sen. Steve Murphy, D-Red Wing, criticized Molnau and other MnDOT leaders for their actions following the collapse. He pointed to MnDOT's choice of the highest bidder for the replacement bridge, lawsuits and complaints filed by losing bidders, and the agency's emergency manager failing to return from a business trip to the East Coast for 10 days after the collapse as evidence of a need for change.

"The public has completely lost confidence in the leadership at MnDOT and so has the Legislature," Murphy said, standing near the LaFayette Bridge over the Mississippi River in St. Paul. The bridge is one of about 100 in the state with nonredundant, fracture-critical components like the I-35W bridge, and which are rated "structurally deficient."We have a serious problem in the state of Minnesota and we need serious people with serious answers. We need someone in there who is a professional, that knows engineering, that knows transportation and that is not Carol Molnau," said Murphy, with several other legislators standing nearby.

Murphy said the full Senate would likely consider refusing to confirm Molnau as transportation commissioner as one of its first duties when the legislature convenes in February and that the Senate has the votes to reject her confirmation. A commissioner may serve without confirmation, but if rejected, Molnau could be forced from the MnDOT post but she would retain her elected position as lieutenant governor.

The request for Molnau's termination comes in the midst of a larger debate over transportation funding and questions about a cash flow problem in the department, with the possibility raised of postponed projects to fund the I-35W bridge reconstruction.

Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung dismissed Murphy's remarks as personal name calling and said the governor is interested in moving ahead on a comprehensive transportation plan when the Legislature convenes in February. McClung said Molnau has been working through significant issues in a department that has historically generated controversy.

"From our perspective, Senator Murphy has been holding out this confirmation issue. We hope that legislators are going to take a fair approach to looking at her confirmation. We believe she should be confirmed," McClung said.

McClung said Pawlenty continues to express support for Molnau and that Pawlenty has had no reservations about Molnau serving a dual role as lieutenant governor and transportation commissioner."

___________________________________________

Senator Murphy’s call for Molnau’s termination is obviously the voice that Rep. Kalin (17B) wants. Kalin’s press releases (links previously noted) demonstrate the itch to be rid of her.

Rather than pull together to overcome the crisis caused by the bridge collapse, the Dems play political games. Someone must be blamed. That is especially convenient when the other party is in administration. You can bet your last dollar that the libs would not be making this call if they were holding administrative power.

Why is the Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee now faulting Molnau for "...about 100 [bridges] in the state with nonredundant, fracture-critical components like the I-35W bridge..." when that is his jurisdiction as well? How is it that the sudden collapse of one bridge brings all these other bridges on his radar screen? Doesn’t he read Mn/DOT reports? Isn’t it his specific job to keep tabs on the condition of bridges and the schedule for repair or replacement? The very fact that he can identify bridges with "...nonredundant, fracture-critical components..." implies he has read reports. Did he just now read the reports? If he read them earlier, where was his and his committee’s plan for repair or replacement? After all, the average citizen has known for years that the backlog of bridge repair/replacement has been growing. It doesn’t require being a senator to know this. And the Dems could have been in power when this bridge collapsed. Oh wait! He is in power.

While pointing out Molnau’s failures, he points out his own. If Molnau should go, then so should he. If there can be no confidence in Molnau, then how can we have confidence in Chair Murphy? He must accept responsibility for all bridges in Minnesota as part of the Transportation Committee.

Blaming is a childish game that the Dems have mastered. It diverts attention from one’s own failures to another. It appears to address the problem, satisfying the party base, but does little or nothing to correct the problem. It disheartens the very team that must solve the problem, while the jackals gnaw their political bones and the hyenas laugh with glee over the sacked teammate. Blamers don’t remember that what goes around, comes around.

Suddenly all the backlog of potential calamity is hyped because of one crisis. Dems make a crisis of a crisis in order to dig deeper into the taxpayer’s pockets. The next months will be filled with Democrats moaning about the need for billions in transportation dollars to get voters convinced to open their pocketbooks. Talk about creating a culture of fear!

We voters get disgusted that so many of our elected leaders are so childish and such fear-mongers. Quit pointing fingers. Get back to work. Do the job. Solve the problems and get the bridge replaced as a team. The new bridge will not be a Democrat bridge if it falls down. You can be sure of that!

Oh the Liberal Finger-pointing!
Another Kalin Press Release

Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-17B) has posted his latest accusatory piece.

"OP/ED COLUMN
LEADERSHIP AND HONESTY ARE SORELY NEEDED

When the 35W bridge collapsed, taking 13 lives with it, Governor Pawlenty sounded like the leader we all wanted him to be. He assured us that he would do what it takes to ensure that all of Minnesota's roads and bridges are safe, even it if meant raising taxes.

When legislators questioned Lt. Gov. Molnau and her staff on August 15 and 22, MnDOT assured us that they would have no cash problems. Other projects would not suffer, the Lt. Gov. reassured us.

Since then, we've learned of excessive bonuses going to the losing bidders of the 35W bridge contract – to the tune of $600,000 total. We've learned that MnDOT's director of Emergency Management, Sonia Morphew Pitt, couldn't be bothered to come home for 10 days after the bridge collapsed, and that up to $26,000 of her taxpayer-paid travel was for personal pleasure. And, we've learned that MnDOT management, when made aware of Ms. Pitt's excesses, failed to alert the Legislative Auditor as required by law.

To top it all off, Lt. Gov. Molnau has since admitted that she didn't tell the legislature the truth. She has asked the legislature to give her an unprecedented cash advance of almost $200 million. If she doesn't get her way, projects in the works will be delayed or halted altogether.

What's the Governor's response to Minnesotans? Don't worry. Be happy.

It's a cute slogan. But it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in MnDOT, or in Minnesota's infrastructure. The Governor and the Lieutenant Governor need to come clean regarding MnDOT's ongoing financial troubles. Only then can the legislature, and every Minnesotan, be confident that increased investment will be responsibly managed by the Pawlenty/Molnau administration. And only then will we be certain that our state is on the responsible path to better roads, safer bridges, and adequate transit options.

___________________________________________

It’s all Lt. Governor Molnau’s fault according to Kalin, and Pawlenty’s. He does not acknowledge that the financial crunch Mn/DOT is experiencing is due to a potential veto of the transportation bill by President Bush. The bill provides $195 million to the state for the start of the I-35 bridge. But President Bush has threatened to veto it because of the “irresponsible and excessive level of spending” in it.

Because the $195 million federal money may not arrive in time, Mn/DOT may need to delay some other projects, for example see here and here to free up money for starting the construction of the I-35 bridge.

Mn/DOT has asked the Legislative Advisory Commission (LAC) for the possible approval of $195 million of state money to start the project.

The LAC is reluctant to approve this large sum because the commission deals with smaller figures. And if this would be approved, there are concerns that the federal money may not come through.

This is indeed a problem for state officials, but it would not exist if the federal dollars were there, something Kalin does not acknowledge.

Of course the Dems blame Pawlenty for not allowing transportation funding in the special session. Governor Pawlenty wisely prevented a feeding frenzy by the Dems who saw the bridge tragedy as an opportunity to spend money like drunken sailors.

Ironically, a similar feeding frenzy is occurring at the federal level as Congress (Dems and Republicans) loaded up the transportation bill with excessive pork which the President has threatened to veto.

Kalin wants leadership out of Minnesota Republicans. When will he demand leadership out of his fellow liberals who gorge at the public trough? The porkers get so greedy that they are willing to jeopardize the funding of a collapsed bridge. If the federal transportation bill were fair, Bush would sign it and Minnesota’s bridge funding problem would be solved. But liberals sense they can take advantage of a tragedy and federal funding failure to open the state floodgates for even more funding. The Governor alone holds back that flood. Keep it up Governor. You have our support.

Kalin wants honesty from the Governor. How about a wee bit of honesty from Kalin? Liberal greed at the federal level is creating a funding problem here. We’re sick of the dishonesty of liberal politicians.

It’s time for our local Representative to demonstrate leadership by actually working harmoniously toward a solution together with Republicans. “People before politics” is only a slogan; now let’s see you put it into action.

Kalin Press Release

After Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-17B) pandered to the media about the bridge stipends, he followed with a letter to Lt. Governor and Commissioner of Transportation, Carol Molnau, on September 20, 2007. His press release can be viewed here.

In it, he adds six more issues to the petty one above. (See our previous post.) He should be given a 15 yard penalty for "piling on." This is unsportsmanlike conduct. Molnau is trying to restore Minnesota to normality after the collapse of the most used bridge in the state. She’s as busy as a cat on a hot tin roof with work, but Kalin has to badger her. Kalin is more interested in politicizing a tragedy than creating a climate for the Transportation Department to get the job done timely and properly.

Ignoring the fact that he had already admitted that as a legislator he knew of the $300k stipend for each of the three losing bridge bidders, now he condemns the $1.5 million in stipends as frivolous spending. He ratchets up his rhetoric from the $900,000 expected stipend to $1.5 million. He should have expected the extra $600,000 in stipends when liberals pushed for light rail in the bridge design.

Whatever waste is discovered after investigating the "absence" of a Mn/DOT employee during the bridge collapse will not go very far toward repairing one of the "...endangered bridges..." he is so concerned about. The employee review will tell if discipline is needed, but any potentially wasted dollars are less than minuscule compared to the cost of repairing one deficient bridge. Where is his sense of proportion? Political opportunists make voters cynical.

Why does a liberal suddenly become concerned about frivolous spending when he voted for frivolous tax increases a few months ago? What is $600,000 compared to $5,000,000,000 proposed in bills by the Dems? It’s frivolous when he says it’s frivolous and he ignores the fact that light rail was included in the bridge design by a Republican administration on the insistence of libs.

Kalin does not have a sense of proportion. What is the importance of starting the Rush Line Commuter Bus service compared to the replacement of the failed I-35 bridge? The commuter delay caused by the congested North Branch TH 95 bridge is nothing compared to no bridge over the Mississippi River. Like a petulant kid, Kalin has to have answers to his petty questions now. It would be good for Molnau to ignore him; answers will be forth coming after the crisis is handled.

When does a Liberal Complain

about Spending Money?

Late afternoon on Wednesday, Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D-17B) called WCCO radio (and others) to say the three companies with the losing bids for the I-35 bridge would be receiving $500,000 each instead of the $300,000 stipend he knew would be granted. WDFL Don Shelby eagerly asked pandering Kalin to inform him about his investigation into the matter so that he could report on it.

This article had reported on the $500,000 stipend on September 14 (5 days before bid award), explaining the rationale for offering stipends to the losing bidders.

Mn/DOT did not design the bridge project and put it out for bid. Rather, each bidding company used the design-build method. The stipend covers at least some of the design costs of the bidding company. An article, in which Kalin’s complaint is registered, also explained the rationale of the stipend.

A bid-losing company can choose to turn down the stipend. If it accepts the stipend, the state gets the right to use any ideas submitted in its design and bid. Thus the state may benefit from information that it can use on this or any other project in the future. Of course that benefit is not known in advance.

On September 14, the above article explained the increase from $300k to $500k:

"Department spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said the stipend increase reflects heightened expectations, including a requirement that the bridge be reinforced to accommodate a future light-rail line."

After the bidding companies had already done work on the design-build project, they were asked to modify it to accommodate light-rail. Kalin’s liberal friends pushed hard for light-rail inclusion on the bridge. In a liberal’s mind, such a demand is not the driving force for an increased stipend; a Republican administration that believes in paying for a requested product must be blamed. Kalin doesn’t live in a real world of cost and benefit. Despite his "people before politics" mantra, he lives in the mud-slinging world of jacking himself up by wacking Republicans and pandering for votes.

Kalin balked at the $600,000 extra stipend expense, but said nothing about the $50 million extra cost of the bid accepted by the state which has been protested by two losing bidders. Kalin missed the big money and choked on the small potatoes. That does not bode well for Chisago County taxpayers who will be expected to keep forking out the dough for his projects.

More "Transportation" Pork

Funding for bridges served with side of pork
Senate set aside $1 billion for worn spans -- and $2.5 billion for "earmarks."
By Kevin Diaz

Bridges are aging and rusting all over the country, but if Congress has its way, Las Vegas will get a history museum out of the Senate-approved transportation and housing bill soon headed to President Bush.

North Dakota will get $450,000 for its Peace Garden on the Canadian border, while Montana will see funding for a minor-league baseball stadium in Billings. So too will Minnesota get $250,000 in the House version -- for bike trails.

The U.S. Senate bill does contain an extra $1 billion for bridge repair. But the amount set aside for pet transportation and community projects would be more than double that: In all, 843 new congressional "earmarks" totaling $2.5 billion.

Read the rest of the article.
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While federal pork continues to outpace maintenance dollars for bridge repairs, the Governor of Minnesota kept the Dems from filling the special session with pork. The Dems can’t wait for the next half year to fly by before the regular session commences so they can legislate more taxes.

Click here for information on the financial aid package passed in special session for flood relief. Some state money was appropriated to get federal funds for the I-35 bridge.

See this information for a listing of private donations for flood relief, Minnesotans helping Minnesotans. And wonder of wonders, it is voluntary!

A Common Sense Approach

Here is one highlight in a great article from Minnesota Majority on the bridge collapse and a gas tax increase.

"Fact #1: Minnesota already spends more than most other state [sic] on our roads and bridges. In 2006, the state transportation budget exceeded $2.3 billion! There’s simply no evidence to suggest that state engineers have been forced to compromise bridge maintenance due to a lack of funding. We may have an issue with how spending is prioritized, but we sure don't appear to have a lack of adequate funding."

Read more...

With this Thinking, No Wonder We are in Trouble

Melissa Hortman (DFL, 47B), an assistant majority leader in the Minnesota House, wrote the following:

The tax questions we ought to ask

Of course Minnesotans would opt to pay less in the broadest sense. That might change if their leaders spelled out the consequences.

A poll taken shortly after the bridge collapse shows that most Minnesotans still do not want their gas tax increased. That should surprise no one. Any poll asking Minnesotans whether they would like to pay a higher or a lower price for a key commodity would produce the same result. People prefer lower prices.

Read the rest of her commentary here.

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Hortman draws an analogy between the increasing need to maintain bridges and consequently the need to increase the gas tax with the need to eat and the need to pay higher food prices. She used this analogy because she thinks Minnesotans are too dumb to realize we need to be willing to pay more gas taxes.

Being willing to pay higher food costs does not translate into a willingness to accept legislator-imposed gas tax hikes. The one is our personal choice within our budget; the other is foisted upon us without respect to our budget.

Hortman fails to recognize that a different conclusion can be drawn from her analogy. Since we need to eat within our budget, if some foods cost more, we have choices to switch brands, shop another store, eat less of the higher priced food and more of something less costly.

Government has those same choices regarding roads and bridges. But Hortman limits the options to one–increase the gas tax. Families cannot by fiat increase the budget like government can. And when government increases its budget by fiat, it simultaneously decreases what is available in the budget for the family to buy food. Government must live within its means, which is the collective means of all taxpayers. Government too has choices within its budget.

In other words, whether buying groceries or maintaining bridges, we should prioritize. Hortman knows nothing of prioritizing buying groceries or infrastructure. Throwing money at it is a typical Democrat response. Whether at the local, state or federal level, far too many politicians, who live within their own personal budgets, lose their heads when they get to spend our tax dollars. Priorities fly the coop; just levy more taxes. And then suddenly when a bridge collapse reveals their prior lapses, they put it on top priority where it should have been all along.

The thinking (or lack thereof) Hortman reveals in her piece should scare all Minnesotans because we all will be affected by her legislative ventures. This is the same unthinking person who speculated, "Did the heat put extra strain on the steel?" and said, "You wonder if this bridge was built to withstand the massive heat we have had this summer." She forgot about the summer of '88.

Showing more ignorance, she wrote,

“In the United States, we have a republican democracy. Why is that? Elected officials are supposed to lead as well as listen. Lately, it seems we have been seeing a lot of listening, but now we need to exercise leadership.”

What is a republican democracy? Never heard of it and our founding fathers were terrified of democracy.

She concludes it is time to quit listening and exercise leadership. Apparently the listening is the republican part and exercising leadership is the democracy part. Well, she hasn’t done enough listen’ cuz she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

Another Voice of Reason

Gas-Tax Hikes Only Fuel the Problem
In the era of the earmark, it would be insane to entrust any additional transportation dollars to Congress.
By Phil Kerpen

The country’s transportation infrastructure has received long-overdue attention in the wake of the tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota. Throwing more money at the problem is the immediate impulse of many commentators and politicians. Unfortunately, highway funding at the federal level is rife with abuse, diversion, and mis-prioritization, mostly because of the practice of earmarking— a method by which politicians steer funds to politically favored projects, regardless of whether they are legitimate priorities.

And until earmarks are eliminated, higher gas taxes in the name of rebuilding our transportation infrastructure would simply throw good money after bad.

Read the rest of the commentary.

Interview with Rep. James Oberstar

Source: Star Tribune

'Bridge maintenance is in the Stone Age'
Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, sat down last week with Star Tribune editorial writers to discuss the Interstate 35W bridge collapse. Here are excerpts:
Published: August 26, 2007

Q What should be the federal response? You've mentioned a gasoline tax increase. President Bush says he's against that.

A Let me cite testimony from Dec. 1, 1987, from two days of hearings I conducted on bridge safety. "Our national bridge program is in serious trouble. The safety of millions of Americans have been jeopardized by inept federal stewardship over our bridge inspection and rebuilding effort. States have misspent millions of federal aid bridge dollars through dereliction of their responsibilities to the traveling public. One of the most fundamental defects is the persistent failure of states to perform reliable, cost-effective maintenance of our bridges in compliance with federal statutory responsibilities. Bridge maintenance is in the Stone Age."

That was 20 years ago ... and very little has been done [by various administrations, Congress or the states]. It has only gotten worse. So this disaster is not really a wake-up call, it's a reawakening.

In the 1960s, when the Minneapolis bridge was built, we had 2 million trucks on the road in America. Today we have 7 million. And now we have just-in-time delivery of freight, which requires our highways to be rolling warehouses. Instead of 53,000-pound trucks, we have 80,000-pound trucks. We have 235 million vehicles in the U.S. That's huge pressure, far different than where we were when most of our bridges were built.

Q You have an initiative in mind.

A Yes. We have 597,000 bridges in America, of which 154,000 are deficient, either structurally or functionally. This is an opportunity. Instead of making Minnesota as a poster child for bridge failure, we should make this tragedy a springboard for action and attack in a focused way those most-vulnerable bridges. We should raise the standards on deficiency, raise the standards for inspections and the federal oversight of state responsibilities, develop a formula for rating deficient bridges based on threat to public safety, risk, importance to mobility. We need new ratings, state by state, a ranking of those most critical to be repaired. [Ratings would be done by the Federal Highway Administration and the states, and validated by the National Research Council.]

I also want to include in the formula a state's commitment to providing its matching share to the federal dollars. And then the cost. Create a Bridge Reconstruction Trust Fund, separate from the Highway Trust Fund, to create a dedicated revenue stream to respond to those needs.

I propose a 5-cent increase of the user fee [gas tax] for three years, generating about $8.5 billion a year, although the actual amount will depend on what the cost estimates are once the bridges are evaluated. Then I have an earmark-proof provision, drawn to be an emergency response. It's critical for people to believe that there won't be any tampering. It's a three-year crash program with a three-year sunset.

Q What do you make of the president saying no?

A Well, it was an offhand response. He also said that Congress has to fix the highway program, so I take him as a yes.

Q Can the construction industry handle all that in such a short window?

A Yes, I've talked to them.

Q Can the economy handle a nickel increase?

A These projects would increase the efficiency and reliability of moving goods and people, and they would create thousands of construction jobs.

Q And, in your formula, states that don't show commitment to matching federal dollars would suffer?

A I expect they would; this is a partnership.

Q In Minnesota, the governor has twice vetoed legislation that would have raised more federal matching money for transportation. Do you consider Minnesota a good partner?

A Our lieutenant governor [Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau] told me in October 2005, "We can't match all that money you want to give us." I said, "Then raise the user fee [gas tax]." As a policymaker, you cannot be stuck in an ideological time block. If it were left up to these people, we'd still be riding ox carts in Minnesota.

Q What should be Minnesota's response to this bridge collapse?

A Well, two. The first is what the state is doing now. Get a proper design and make sure it has funding to pay the up-front costs that will be reimbursed later by the federal government. That's the standard procedure. But what we understand is that the state has a cash-flow problem, and may have trouble. I don't want to see them shift money from other projects to this one.

Then, the state has a larger problem. For 20 years the user fee [gas tax] has not been increased, while the value of the construction dollar has eroded 47 percent. Our GDP was $89 billion back then; now it's $256 billion. Usage of the roads has increased tremendously; truck weights have increased, resulting in huge pressures. The user fee [gas tax] is not sufficient to keep up to these needs. They have to deal with this problem, and they can't do it with a sunsetted user fee.

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Oberstar is given to hyperbole. He quotes testimony approvingly from 1987, which said, "Bridge maintenance is in the Stone Age." Oberstar himself criticizes Minnesota policymakers, saying, "If it were left up to these people, we'd still be riding ox carts in Minnesota." Neither statement is true nor helpful. Our modern road system could not have been built by ox cart technology nor stone tools. In reality, this statement would more accurately be true of radical environmentalists who detest use of the internal combustion engine.

Oberstar has a solution for aging interstate bridges–a new program and new tax dollars. What else is new? He wants to create a Bridge Reconstruction Trust Fund separate from the Highway Trust Fund which was created in 1956 to fund highways and bridges. Why is a separate fund needed? Politicians will misuse a new fund just as they have misused the Highway Trust Fund (see this opinion for example).

A three-year, temporary 5 cent per gallon gas tax would be the funding mechanism. When does government keep anything temporary Mr. Oberstar? And the new program would be "earmark proof". Oh really! The last transportation bill was overloaded with earmarks. Why not make the existing Highway Trust Fund earmark proof? Why do it just for bridges?

And isn’t Mr. Oberstar part of the problem that he says has been with us for more than 20 years? Being chair of the Transportation Committee for many years, he should have been pushing for corrective measures because he was forewarned in 1987. And now the exclamation point occurred in his own state! Twenty years is more than enough time to bring correction.

Leave it to the audacity of politicians. Your tight grasp on your wallet is the problem; not their mismanagement. And don’t wait for any apology from pols even though they are the problem. In the end, the hard working American taxpayers will once again bail out mismanaging politicians and bureaucrats.

We don’t need a new program and new money. We need new people in political office and in bureaucratic office, such as the Highway Trust Fund. There will be plenty of money to go around once the waste and pork is eliminated.

Well Said, Therefore Everyone Listen

Until I-35W disaster, Oberstar's funding focus wasn't on bridges
By Katherine Kersten, Star Tribune

In the wake of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, DFL leaders want to raise the state gas tax to fund transportation needs.

At the same time, Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar -- the powerful chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee -- has called for a "temporary" 5-cent increase in the federal gas tax to raise what he says is a critically needed $25 billion over three years for a national bridge-repair trust fund.

"If you're not prepared to invest another five cents in bridge reconstruction and road reconstruction, then God help you," he said after the bridge collapse.

Polls suggest that ordinary folks aren't convinced of a divine mandate for higher taxes. Most likely, they're skeptical about how our pols are stewarding current transportation funds.

Oberstar is Exhibit A. He's long been well-positioned to help steer funds toward bridge safety, and has known of the seriousness of the problem since he held hearings on bridge conditions 20 years ago, he says. But he's had other priorities.

For example, on July 25 -- a week before the bridge collapse -- Oberstar issued a press release announcing his latest coup for Minnesota.

He had obtained more than $12 million for his home state in a recently passed House transportation and housing bill. Commuter rail was the big winner, getting $10 million. The Cambridge-Isanti Bike/Walk Trail got $250,000, and the KidsPeace Mesabi Academy in Buhl got $150,000. Only $2 million went for meat-and-potatoes road improvements.

Not a penny was slated for bridge repair.

Transportation funding is the epitome of pork-barrel politics. It's notorious for earmarks -- items that politicians insert into bills to finance pet projects in their districts.

Critics call it a spoils system that distributes money based on political clout rather than transportation need.

The 2005 federal transportation bill illustrates the extent of the problem. The $286 billion bill included a record 6,373 earmarks, up from a handful in 1982.

Oberstar played a lead role in crafting the 2005 bill as ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Committee. In the bill, Congress allocated about $4 billion a year for bridge reconstruction and maintenance. It designated about the same amount -- about $24 billion over a five-year period -- for member earmarks in a bipartisan porkfest.

Ironically, $24 billion is almost exactly the amount that Oberstar now says we must raise through new taxes to prevent future bridge collapses.

Oberstar's earmarks were among the highest for any member, totaling $250 million. What did they fund?

Not repair of the I-35W bridge, though the state had identified cracks in the bridge as a major concern in 1999. Oberstar's earmarks, which included many road-related projects, also provided $25 million for Twin Cities bicycle and pedestrian trails and lanes, and such "high priority" items as $471,000 for the Edge of Wilderness Discovery Center in Marcell.

A bridge - but not for vehicles

Oh, and he did slip in $1.5 million for a new bridge in Baxter -- for the Paul Bunyan bike trail.

Oberstar, an avid cyclist, has lavished federal gas-tax dollars on bike trails for years. In 1991, he spearheaded legislation that first allowed Highway Trust Fund monies to flow to state bike trails.

Now Oberstar has taken his enthusiasm for bikes a step further. He recently amended a federal aviation law to allow airports to spend federal funds on bike storage facilities. (Now there's a pressing need we don't want to underfund.)

Could Oberstar be changing his earmark-happy ways? The bridge repair trust fund that he proposed after the I-35W collapse will prohibit earmarks. "I'm challenging everyone to break with the paradigm of the past -- to meet a higher standard," he said.

Does that mean that earmarks have been bad policy all along? Not at all, says Oberstar. "Citizens have a right to petition for redress of grievances. What are we, chopped liver in greater Minnesota? When the state bureaucracy won't fund projects that people need, they come to me for help."

Do we need new taxes to keep our bridges and roads safe? Minnesota reaped a bountiful $3.5 billion from the 2005 federal transportation bill, up almost $1 billion from its allocation under the previous highway bill. The Star Tribune called it a "cornucopia of big-bucks transportation" benefits.

At the state level, Minnesota spends almost twice as much today as it did just 10 years ago.

More taxes? How about doing a better job with what we've got?

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Enough said. No new taxes. Get the priorities right.

Rep. Jeremy Kalin (DFL-17B) and Sen. Rick Olseen (DFL-17) are you listening?

Also read this wise commentary by David Strom.