Downey: 'We Tried Our Best' to Avoid Shutdown
Edina legislator said Gov. Dayton, GOP leadership were close to a deal at several points.
It obviously wasn't enough, but State Rep. Keith Downey (R-Edina) said negotiations between GOP leaders and Gov. Mark Dayton had come painfully close to ending the shutdown before if even started.
Downey said the volley of offers came increasingly close to pleasing both sides, but a $1.4 billion gap still remained, along with a policy difference over tax increases. In the end, Downey suspects "political agendas" were responsible for the two sides not coming together.
"We were very, very close," Downey said. "I think we should all take 24 hours and take a breath here, then get back to work to finish this."
Though he wasn't in the room during negotiations, Downey said much of his week was spent fine-tuning finance bills to "make moves toward the governor on policy fronts."
One move in particular was being willing to remove his "15 x 15" bill, which would have seen the state executive branch workforce decreased by 15 percent by 2015. Rather than impose a wage freeze and set a target for reducing the state workforce, Downey said he proposed giving Dayton freedom to eliminate $200 million from the state's $4.8 billion payroll any way he chooses.
"That was a huge move from my perspective," Downey said. "You look around the country at collective bargaining changes, and we were willing to negotiate on our provisions."
One sticking point all along was Dayton's proposal to increase taxes for the top earning 2 percent of Minnesotans. At one point, Dayton proposed increasing taxes only on those earning more than $1 million annually. GOP legislators rejected that proposal, and Democratic leaders have since portrayed Republicans as choosing "millionaires over Minnesotans."
In remarks Thursday evening, Dayton was critical of Republican leaders' stance to "protect the richest handful of Minnesotans at the expense of everyone else, even at the expense of a state government shutdown."
"Instead of taxing their friends, they would prefer very damaging cuts to health care, K-12 and higher education, state and local public safety, mass transit and other essential services," Dayton said.
Considering past events, Downey said he doesn't expect the shutdown to go on very long—perhaps a few weeks, at most. The fact that negotiations got so close less than 24 hours ago is encouraging, Downey said, though he doesn't think there's much appetite within the Republican-led Legislature for a budget higher than $34 billion.
While Downey is "frustrated" and "irritated" that a shutdown is taking place, he said it will be somewhat interesting to observe the functions of government with only one-third of state employees working.
"Nobody wants a shutdown, but it's an interesting opportunity to see what impact not having these nonessential employees has," he said. "It will allow us a chance to assess, one-by-one, what can actually be done without all of those people."
leskraus
3:50 pm on Friday, July 1, 2011
I cannot comprehend why these Republicans are willing to shut down our government simply to protect those making $1,000,000.00 or more. Where is Ron Erhardt when we need him most. Oh I forgot, you drummed him out of the party for voting for an increase in the gas tax, that most people and the Chamber of
Commerce supported. This is yet another example of how their "No new tax" policy hurts most Minnesotans, in order to "protect" the most fortunate.
Tom LaForce
4:06 pm on Friday, July 1, 2011
Three comments. 1) Mandating a 15% reduction in the size of the workforce isn't a reform. It might force reforms, but in itself, isn't particularly creative. 2) Edina is a place where I'd bet far fewer people than on average receive direct state aid, so I'd imagine many people here would say they don't see what the big deal is because for them life will seem pretty normal. 3) $1.4B doesn't strike me as being very close at all, especially considering the gap has been $1.8B for quite some time now.
Dave Hruby
9:48 pm on Friday, July 1, 2011
Wow Keith, you were that close? Maybe if you hadn't wasted precious time on the hateful defense of marriage bill there would not be a shutdown. Nut your moral agenda trumped the state's business. But thanks for making it close and being afraid of same sex couples. We need that kind if leadership. In short, you failed.
Kevin O'Donovan
4:19 am on Saturday, July 2, 2011
I'd like to thank Keith Downey and the legislative leadership for their good work. The needless anxiety and suffering caused by Gov.Dayton to hard working state employees and those in need is inexcusable. I voted to reduce government spending. The majority gave Dayton the largest budget in state history. He vetoed it. Thank God we don't have a DFL majority in the legislature! That would be a nightmare.
David F
9:03 am on Saturday, July 2, 2011
They should all be thrown out of office at the next election. As they say in on Capitol Hill in DC, all decisions are political decisions and this occured in MN. This shutdown is national news and is not helping to attract new business to MN who look at MN as being disfunctional.
Mark Lokowich
10:36 am on Saturday, July 2, 2011
We'll, let me see... Working our way back up to one of the highest taxed states, would that help us attract new business to MN ? ..." all decisions are political"... what are we to make of a governor who would leave a balanced budget unsigned? And a government workforce that has grown at nearly 20% rate since the 1960's, will continue to put demands on the rest of the citizens
Dave Bender
2:12 pm on Saturday, July 2, 2011
Downer's 15x15 proposal is spineless. If he can decide what he wants to cut, he should make that his proposal and put his name on it. But he doesn't have the gumption to do that. If he did, even his supporters would see that the services that he targets matter to someone. Not to the richest of the rich, of course, but to the majority of the people of the district.
David F
10:24 pm on Friday, July 8, 2011
This shutdown is devastating the tourist industry with all the state parks being closed.
I visited 2 state parks this week in northen MN that were almost completely empty.
With a lowered bond rating and unemployment going up this shutdown will have a short and long term effect on the economy.