True North

Now that the DFL has ousted Carol Molnau as Transportation Commissioner, Tarryl Clark is speaking out:

The idea of McFarlin permanently heading the Transportation Department got an unenthusiastic response from a leading senator. The Senate has the power to confirm or reject Pawlenty's pick for the job.

"There's a number of folks who are concerned that there's an upper layer of management issues there, that he is part of the problem, not the solution," said DFL Assistant Senate Majority Leader Tarryl Clark. "But we don't have any reason to believe that he will be more than an acting commissioner."

Sen. Clark, you expressed concerns over Carol Molnau to me well over a year ago. Why did it take this long to conduct an actual confirmation hearing? This smacks of cheap political theater.

If Sen. Clark really had serious misgivings about Ms. Molnau, shouldn't she have told Sen. Murphy to conduct the hearings a bit earlier, say like a year ago?

I'd further submit that Sen. Clark hasn't followed through on another promise she made last January. At that townhall meeting, I asked if the DFL majority would conduct oversight hearings to identify wasteful spending. She said that they would. In fact, that's the context in which she first mentioned her concerns with Lt. Gov. Molnau.

With the state now facing a $935 million deficit, I'd submit that it's long past time for the DFL legislature to start identifying the wasteful spending that they've helped pass over the years.

Gov. Pawlenty chided Majority Leader Pogemiller that "You can't government your way to prosperity", which is an undeniable fact. While that's true, you can government your way to putting together a system to pay off your political allies. It's apparent that that's what's happened.

For all her rhetoric, the truth is that Sen. Clark is more interested in pure partisan politics than in smart policymaking. If she was interested in smart policymaking, she'd push an oversight agenda aimed at eliminating wasteful spending.

We know that that won't happen.

Comments welcome at LFR.