Editorial: The spin begins

Talk about it

In Tuesday’s Daily Globe, area state legislators Rod Hamilton and Joe Schomacker did their best to highlight positive attributes of the new two-year Minnesota budget. Hamilton and Schomacker each lamented the government shutdown that preceded the budget deal, but also praised government reforms that resulted.

Also Tuesday, a letter authored by Worthington Mayor (and Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities Vice President) Alan Oberloh sharply criticized the budget agreement. “Any high school class from Worthington, Willmar or Wadena would have produced a far better budget for Minnesota property taxpayers and their communities,” Oberloh wrote.

We won’t go quite that far with our assessment of the new budget deal, but that doesn’t mean our electeds did the best they could for us. Not only did the nearly shutdown cost people — and the state — untold dollars, but the fix that ultimately resulted — delay school payments and borrow from the tobacco settlement — simply puts off a significant financial problem until later.

Hamilton and Schomacker want people to believe there were some significant accomplishments in this past session. What’s more significant is what wasn’t accomplished.

Tags: opinion, editorials, minnesota, legislature, politics, hamilton, schomacker, oberloh