As others see it: Our front-row seat

• Gov. Tim Pawlenty

File Photo: Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the state needs to trim its budget, even though a budget report was better than expected. (Don Davis/State Capitol bureau)

Talk about it

As if Minnesotans have not been subjected to enough fallout from partisan politics of late, we cringe at what’s to come as Gov. Tim Pawlenty ramps up his national profile.

His latest move came when Alex Conant, who advises politicians at the national level, said Pawlenty plans to launch “Freedom First,” a political action committee focused on raising funds for Republican candidates.

Of course, political insiders of all stripes know that such a committee is yet another crucial step toward a politician ultimately making a presidential run. Sure, it may not be used to fund Pawlenty’s own political ambitions, but it certainly creates a network he can tap at a later date.

The PAC formation also comes after a summer in which Pawlenty routinely visited other states to campaign for fellow governors and to reach out to an array of influential Republican groups, often with stinging speeches. Notably, those were never about unallotment, education funding reform or even Minnesota’s health care system. They were all about attacking President Obama and/or railing on any issue so that he fans GOP flames while antagonizing Democrats.

Great. Welcome to Needless National Politics 101.

The real tragedy for Minnesotans, though, is that regardless of what all this does for Pawlenty’s personal agenda, it sets up state government to fail — realistically for the rest of his term. ..

Yet when Pawlenty and legislators gather for the 2010 session, they could be facing another multi-billion-dollar budget problem — something they’ve regularly proven incapable of working together to solve.

... Minnesotans are going to get a front-row seat in observing what happens when politicians put their personal ambitions well ahead of the needs the constituents who elected them to serve.

Sure, that’s not a new revelation. But it’s going to be an ugly one in 2010.

St. Cloud Times

Tags: opinion, letters, pawlenty