Jon Tevlin: Emmer's Statements Don't Make Sense

In the Star Tribune columnist Jon Tevlin took Emmer to task for speaking in generalities about what he would -- or could -- cut and for using examples of wasteful programs which either don't receive much state funding or perform the kind of low-cost creative service Emmer says Minnesota needs.

Emmer has been consistent in one way. When pressed on where he'd cut government, he tells people to "read the book" by his choice for lieutenant governor, Annette Meeks. "It's more detail that anything anybody else has put out since then," Emmer said.

So I read it. OK, I skimmed. The "Minnesota Policy Blueprint" indeed has lots of ideas. Some are quite good, including calls for accountability and competition and the one on page 21 to "eliminate the office of lieutenant governor."

Well done, Meeks!

[...]

There were also some specifics about how to re-work departments, such as the idea to employ zero-based budgeting for the DNR. The study doesn't say if it will save money, however. Nor does it say how much any recommendation might save.

So I called Mitch Pearlstein, president of CAE and contributor to the book, to see if I was missing anything.

"No," said Pearlstein, a smart, honest guy who I think really wants to make government work better. "If anybody is looking for a document that says this program or agency should be erased or cut, this isn't it."

[...]

Emmer has thrown around figures on how much could be cut by merging or cutting departments. As of Tuesday, that amount was 20 percent over the next four years. "I think that's preposterous," said Smith. "They need to show us."

For example, let's get back to those campers and owls.

The owl program is actually run by a nonprofit in Duluth and monitored by volunteers. The DNR didn't have the capacity to run it; instead it gave a small, $3,000 grant to help a multi-state effort to track an endangered bird.

The other program is called Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW), which encourages hunting and fishing for families. It has one part-time employee who oversees lots of volunteers. The idea is to keep or expand the number of people who buy hunting and fishing licenses, thus raising revenue. It uses money from those licenses, and donations from civic groups such as Pheasants Forever. It also charges participants. No general funds are used.

Sounds like just the kind of creative, low-cost program Emmer is talking about.

In June 2010, Minnesota Public Radio reported, "In late April, he suggested he could eliminate a third of overall state spending, roughly $20 billion. Last month, Emmer told Minnesota Public Radio News that he would cut or merge several large state government departments."  [Minnesota Public Radio, 06/14/10]

June 2010, Emmer's campaign sought to "fact check" Minnesota Public Radio's claim that he wanted to cut state spending by $20 billion.  His campaign website stated, "During the discussion with Eichten, Emmer did initially say the overall budget should be around $40 billion, down from the current level of $60 billion. But seconds later he clarified with the definitive statement that we "can reduce government easily by 20% in the next four years." When Scheck chose to use the $20 billion figure instead of the more definitive final word on the question, he made a critical and material journalistic mistake."  [www.emmerforgovernor.com, Accessed 06/14/10; Minnesota Public Radio, 06/14/10]

In August 2009, the Bemidji Pioneer wrote that Emmer would like Minnesota's budget to look more like Colorado's budget:

He says Colorado and Minnesota have about the same population, and the Denver metro area is comparable to the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. Minnesota spends between $60 billion and $70 billion every two years, considering all intergovernmental transactions and dedicated funds,

Colorado is "delivering government for a third less -- they spend $40 billion to $50 billion," Emmer said. "There's something wrong, and it's time to look at the actual structure. It's got to be reduced, and it's going to require some significant negotiations and concessions by government employees, it will require some serious rethinking about how government functions."  [Bemidji Pioneer, 08/04/09]

In a video posted to YouTube on January 20, 2010 and embedded on his website, Emmer states:

With all the dedicated funds it comes up to about 60-70 billion.  Now if we compare Minnesota to a state like Colorado, Colorado is roughly the same geographic size of Minnesota, and it's within .5% of the population.  So you have two states that are roughly the same geographic size and the same population.  Colorado delivers government for 40-50 billion dollars every two years.

What we need to explain to people in the public; and I don't think we can any longer no-new-taxes pledges, I think those were appropriate at one time; but now we've got to get more detailed, and we've got to be able to articulate and communicate.  Here's the reality folks, Minnesota spends a third more than a state of similar size and population and similar quality of life.  [www.youtube.com, 01/20/2010;  www.emmerforgovernor.com, Accessed 06/14/10]

Emmer appeared on Minnesota Public Radio's Midday with host Gary Eichten.  He was again asked about his claim that Minnesota could cut $20 billion from the state budget:

Gary Eichten: Last week when you were on Midday you said that you wanted to cut state spending, overall state spending by about a third, much bigger reduction than any of the other candidate's.  Still sticking with that?

Tom Emmer: Gary what I said was, I think you can do that.  Anticipating that would ask me that again today, what I would tell you is this: As you move forward with the election, the candidates will put out more detail as to what they will do and how.  [Minnesota Public Radio's Midday, 05/05/10]