DFLers take aim at Pawlenty appointees 

Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher signaled on Wednesday that she wants to rein in the number of political appointees in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s administration.

“Growth of mid to upper level managers that are political appointees has ballooned under this governor,” said Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis.

Kelliher’s comment fits into an expanding line of criticism by DFLers that focuses on Pawlenty’s management of state government.

In particular, Pawlenty’s commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Dan McElroy, was criticized by DFLers for both the loss of jobs in the state and the security of the agency’s unemployment insurance (UI) system. Senate Economic Development Budget Division Chairman David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, linked the UI problems revealed in a Legislative Auditor report about UI to management issues in Pawlenty’s broader administration.

“Sadly, this appears to be one more example where Gov. Pawlenty’s political appointees are not up to the job,” Tomassoni said.

Pawlenty’s spokesman Brian McClung defended the governor’s track record of managing state government.

“Governor Pawlenty has a record of reducing government overhead, including eliminating the Department of Economic Security, the Department of Employee Release and the Minnesota Planning office and the Office of Environmental Assistance,” McClung said.

Economic Security was merged to make DEED. Employee Relations was merged to create the Department of Management and Budget (MMB).

In regard to Kelliher’s comments about political appointees, McClung said Pawlenty is “open to hearing any and all ideas from the DFL about streamlining and reforming state government.”

Cuts to state government are newly back on the table after MMB announced the state faces a $1.2 billion budget deficit. Kelliher suggested that GOP legislators in 2010 will have to weigh decisions that mean fewer local public employees like nurses if they don’t want to reduce the number of political appointees.

One Response to “DFLers take aim at Pawlenty appointees ”

1. Pat Mcgee Says:
   December 7th, 2009 at 8:02 am

   The growth in political appointees under DFL Mayor Rybak has also been astronomical. Going to even lower than mid-level managers.