The Taxpayers Legaue of Minnesota

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 7, 2008

Contact: Phil Krinkie

(651) 294-3590 ext 204

Governor Strikes a Blow for Fiscal Responsibility

Pawlenty’s line-item vetoes are welcome deletions

ST. PAUL – It may have taken state legislators two months to whittle billions in bonding requests down to the $925 million bill that was presented to Governor Pawlenty last week, but it only took three days for the Governor to show the restraint and responsibility that legislators should have shown in the first place. The Governor’s vetoes of over $200 million in pork projects will save Minnesota taxpayers over $300 million dollars in bonding and interest costs.

The line-item vetoes total $208 million and include cuts of $70 million for the Central Corridor light rail project, $11 million for a gorilla exhibit at the Como Zoo and two University of Minnesota projects that total $26 million. These vetoes bring the bill’s total down to $717 million; substantially under the target of 3% of projected state revenues that has historically regulated the size of the bonding bill over the last 30 years.

“While there are still many projects in the bill that don’t meet the criteria of having ‘statewide significance,’ the Governor has eliminated some of the more egregious examples of pork barrel spending,” said Phil Krinkie, President of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota.

Some of the projects of dubious merit left in the bill include $15 million for state trail acquisition and development, $3.5 for the Rochester Mayo Civic Center, $600,000 for the John Rose Oval in Roseville and $8.5 million for a convention center and National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.