Lillehaug: ‘Everyone affected by these unallotments should seek the same relief’

Last summer, when House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) and other DFL legislators were meeting with groups touched by Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s unallotments to discuss legal options, one of the key consiglieres in behind-the-scenes deliberations was David Lillehaug, the former U.S. Attorney and DFL activist. (Lillehaug describes his involvement this way: “I have counseled clients on the legality of unallotment, and have been in close touch with legislative leaders on the subject. I have not represented a client in litigation. It’s Legal Aid who brought this case, and good for them.”)

PIM spoke with Lillehaug on Wednesday evening, a couple of hours after the release of Judge Kathleen Gearin’s temporary restraining order.

PIM: First, the judge’s order is a temporary injunction, correct? Does it signal a resolution to the case?

David Lillehaug: It is [temporary], although the language she uses in the opinion indicates she’s made a decision that what the governor did was unconstitutional. The date for which she set the next hearing, March 1, indicates she’s very confident in her decision.

PIM: How so?

Lillehaug: The date is more than two months down the road, and it is after the Legislature convenes. In other words, if she was doubtful, she would probably schedule the next hearing a couple of weeks down the road. She has issued her decision, and made it retroactive to November 1, by the way.

PIM: Does this decision stand to bring the rest of the unallotments down like a row of dominoes?

Lillehaug: It’s really difficult to overstate the importance of this case. I think it’s one of the most important lawsuits in the history of Minnesota. It’s a huge, huge defeat for the governor. It completely blows a hole in the side of his legal and political strategy. He should immediately unwind the unallotments, and if he doesn’t, everyone should go to court to get the same release these six poor people got.

PIM: So you expect to see more court action in the wake of this order, I take it.

Lillehaug: I do, because the court’s logic as it applies to the nutrition program applies to every other unallotment. So colleges and universities, school districts, nonprofit organizations, the hospitals–everyone affected by these unallotments should seek the same relief.

Walter Mondale and I did an op-ed piece about this in the Star Tribune three weeks or so ago. We concluded that unallotment was unconstitutional, and Judge Gearin should do just what she did today.

PIM: Doesn’t this set up a situation of mind-boggling practical difficulty in resolving the current state budget?

Lillehaug: What must be done with the budget is exactly what the constitution requires. The Legislature makes laws, and the governor has a right to veto them. When there’s an impasse, the constitution contemplates that a special session should be called.

It’s a big problem. The numbers are very daunting. But it’s a problem that everybody knew about going into session, and the governor pulled the plug on the constitutional process. Parties on both sides are going to have to act like adults and compromise. Gov. Pawlenty isn’t going to like that, because he’s been going around the country talking about how he faced down the Minnesota Legislature, and now a judge has said that that was an abuse of power.

One Response to “Lillehaug: ‘Everyone affected by these unallotments should seek the same relief’”

1. Hiram Says:
   January 2nd, 2010 at 9:57 am

   A very evasive interview.