Watching the 2010 session from the cheap seats was more like watching the legislative version of the World Wrestle Entertainment Smackdown event. Of course there is one major difference, Minnesota's professional wrestler turned Governor has moved on. But everything from the headlock to the body slam seemed to be in vogue during the annual gathering under the capitol dome this year. The DFL controlled legislature seemed intent to smackdown every proposal put forward by Governor Pawlenty from the outset.
This years legislative grudge match actually started at the end of the 2009 session when Governor Pawlenty balanced the state budget by making $2.7 billion in budget cuts without consulting DFL leadership or calling a special legislative session.
Even though the animosity started with the $2.7 billion in budget reduction it quickly expanded to a $380 million veto of funding for the General Assistance Medical Care program.

By the time the legislative session started in February the grudge match became more heated, in part because Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher had entered the race for Governor. Things got started right out of the gate with the Democrats desire to slam through a one billion dollar building construction bill paid for with state bonds. Governor Pawlenty had clearly stated his objections to any bill spending more than $750 million. Even with the threat of a veto the DFL forged ahead passing a $1.1 billion package of construction projects. Upon receiving the bill, the Governor line-item vetoed $319 million of projects from the bill. Score one smackdown for Governor Pawlenty.

The fight that had been simmering for months over the General Assistance Medical Care program funding began to boil next. Again, Democrat legislators had attacked the Governor for eight months regarding his veto of this program. In their defense, DFL leaders worked long and hard to craft legislation to address the health care needs for this very low income population. Even though their bill had broad bipartisan support, Governor Pawlenty quickly rejected their bill with another veto. This sent the Democrats scrambling to find an alternative solution before funding was entirely eliminated on April 1st. In quick fashion, DFL legislators worked out a compromise with the Governor and passed another General Assistance Medical Care bill which the Governor did sign. The Governor had again smacked down the DFL's first proposal in order to accomplish what he wanted

In the biggest surprise of the 2010 session the Minnesota Supreme Court in early May ruled that Governor Pawlenty, had overreached his executive authority when he unilaterally made $2.7 billion in budget cuts in June of 2009. Having filed a friend of the court brief against the Governor's actions, it certainly looked like the Democrats could potentially get a smackdown of their own. But their hopes of victory in the grudge match were short lived.

Faced with the prospects of having to resolve a $3 billion budget hole, and with only two weeks left before the mandated adjournment of May 17th, there were few options available to the DFL legislative majorities to close the budget gap. As usual the Democrats went to there old reliable maneuver --- the "tax increase the rich" move.

But their patented "tax the rich" move failed, just as it had at the end of the 2009 session. With a package of budget cuts and a $450 million income tax increase, the DFL leadership was barely able to muster enough votes to pass their last ditch attempt to balance the budget. Even before the bill was passed, the Governor pledged to veto their proposed tax increase. Governor Pawlenty once again smacked down their proposal with a quick veto.

Now with only nine days before adjournment, Democrats were bewildered. Their hopes of a $400 million state bailout arriving from federal health care dollars disappeared along with their efforts to raise taxes. There was little left for the DFL majorities to do, but to rubber stamp the budget unallotments that they had so strenuously objected to for the last 10 months. Governor Pawlenty was able to emerge victorious from a bruising and bitter legislative contest. While Democrats held their heads high for providing a balanced budget, most of their budget solutions were thwarted by the Governor in the end.
The winner of the 2010 legislative smackdown event was Governor Pawlenty.