Tom Bakk
The 2007 Politics in Minnesota Politician of the Year
Politics in Minnesota continues the rich tradition begun
by now retired PIM editors D.J. Leary and Wy Spano 24 years
ago in PIM The Newsletter: Naming a "PIM Politician Of The Year."
2007 was the third year your publisher has named a Politician Of The Year in
PIM The Weekly Report. In
2005 we chose Mark Dayton, a man who spent years and millions of his
own money to become a U.S. Senator only to walk away after one term because he
concluded that Washington was a "cesspool." In
2006, there was no clear Politician Of The Year so we stole from Time
which named
"You" as the magazine's Man of the Year. PIM named the rise of all
the Minnesota elected women as the Politicians Of The Year, and we singled out
DFL U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher
(DFL-Minneapolis), GOP U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, DFL Attorney General
Lori Swanson and all the frosh women in the Legislature in 2006 (42.9% of
that year's freshmen class).
There's nothing more gratifying in naming the Politics In Minnesota Politician Of The Year than being so sure of the decision. 2007 is one of those years.
In recent times it's become fashionable for politicians to want to avoid being called politicians. That there was something sordid about being one. Maybe it's time to revisit the definition of "politician." According to Merriam Webster, a politician is "a person experienced in the art or science of government; especially : one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government [and/or] a person engaged in party politics as a profession [and/or] a person primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow usually short-sighted reasons."
This year's choice meets the first three of those definitions while at the same time spectacularly avoiding that fourth, "selfish" and "short-sighted" definition.
The Politics in Minnesota Politician Of The Year is Senate Tax Chair Senator Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook).
Bakk was first elected to the House in 1994 after winning a hotly contested 11-person primary. A journeyman carpenter, he has served as a labor representative for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. When the legendary DFL Senate Tax Chair Doug Johnson (also from Cook) retired, Bakk moved to the Senate and also became Tax Chair (is there something taxing about Cook County?!).
Certainly Bakk is a good partisan Democrat, in the rich tradition of union Iron Range Democrats. But in these highly partisan times between a GOP Governor and DFL majorities, where tabling the partisanship to avoid government shutdowns and vetoed tax bills doesn't happen, Bakk is a stand out. Ask anyone who worked in the Senate Tax Committee and then the conference committee, and you'll get the universal opinion that Bakk worked hard to achieve consensus on key provisions in bills, and he included GOP initiatives in them, as well. After the session ended without a tax bill, Bakk worked all the angles trying to revive the noncontroversial parts of the bill. Anyone paying close attention to these efforts couldn't help but notice that Bakk always talked about what's good for the state, not what's good for the DFL.
"One actively engaged in conducting the business of government" ... That's Tom Bakk.
On to the spectacular avoidance of the "selfish" and "short-sighted" definition of politician that Bakk has judiciously avoided.
To be blunt, Sen. Maj. Leader Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis), in his quixotic quest to "get" Governor Tim Pawlenty, seriously screwed Bakk and all his hard work. Bakk did not do the selfish and short-sighted thing which would have been to publicly place the blame for the vetoed tax bill where it belongs, on Pogemiller's back.
Let's revisit why there was no tax bill in 2007. The final tax bill included a controversial provision to add inflation back into state economic forecasting. [A change that was highly desired by both Pawlenty and then-DFL Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe when they were both running for Governor in 2002). How did that happen?
As Bakk wrote in a letter begging Pawlenty to sign the tax bill, "This provision was never discussed at any meeting of the conference committee." But it wasn't the conference committee report that the Senate voted on. Rather, the tax bill was added to a House file pending on the Senate floor. During that floor discussion, Bakk was asked by another member whether the inflation provision was in there. Bakk said it was not, which was what he believed because the game plan was to attach the conference committee report to the House bill. This was important, because Pawlenty had written a letter to the Senate saying he would veto a bill that included the inflation provision.
Some time between passing the bill on the Senate floor and before the House took it up for a floor vote, someone discovered that the inflation provision, was indeed, in the bill.
How did that happen? We've heard from several DFL Senators that a freshmen asked Pogemiller at a DFL Senate Caucus meeting last week the same question. Pogemiller said staff did it. That is a ludicrous answer because Senate staff would never do that unless Pogemiller told them to. Staff know that putting anything in a bill is a policy decision, not a staff one.
To rephrase and be clear: Pogemiller added the inflation provision to the tax bill and did not tell Tax Committee Chair Bakk he did that. That is simply unheard of in the Minnesota legislative process, which is avoiding calling it for what it truly is, which is unethical BS.
Then there's Pogemiller's hypocrisy. In our book, Politics in Minnesota: The Directory, we wrote how Pogemiller wanted to be described, "Pogemiller emphasizes the importance of a collaborative and open style of legislating to bring accountability to the process. He is an advocate of the committee process and strong committee chairs."
We were wrong, spectacularly wrong and we regret the error.
MinnPoster Doug Grow talked to some DFL Senators this week about Pogemiller, "That's not to say they've developed fondness for the Minneapolis DFLer, who has been described as condescending, arrogant, rude and manipulative. (And that's just what DFLers say about their leader.)"
Back to Bakk. He ran against Pogemiller for Senate Majority Leader and actually tied him on one ballot, but lost the final contest on the sixth ballot by only a few votes. The "selfish politician" would have called Pogemiller to task.
Bakk did not. Most likely for the good of the DFL Senate Caucus. Now that's class and that's a PIM Politician Of The Year.
There's nothing more gratifying in naming the Politics In Minnesota Politician Of The Year than being so sure of the decision. 2007 is one of those years.
In recent times it's become fashionable for politicians to want to avoid being called politicians. That there was something sordid about being one. Maybe it's time to revisit the definition of "politician." According to Merriam Webster, a politician is "a person experienced in the art or science of government; especially : one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government [and/or] a person engaged in party politics as a profession [and/or] a person primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow usually short-sighted reasons."
This year's choice meets the first three of those definitions while at the same time spectacularly avoiding that fourth, "selfish" and "short-sighted" definition.
The Politics in Minnesota Politician Of The Year is Senate Tax Chair Senator Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook).
Bakk was first elected to the House in 1994 after winning a hotly contested 11-person primary. A journeyman carpenter, he has served as a labor representative for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. When the legendary DFL Senate Tax Chair Doug Johnson (also from Cook) retired, Bakk moved to the Senate and also became Tax Chair (is there something taxing about Cook County?!).
Certainly Bakk is a good partisan Democrat, in the rich tradition of union Iron Range Democrats. But in these highly partisan times between a GOP Governor and DFL majorities, where tabling the partisanship to avoid government shutdowns and vetoed tax bills doesn't happen, Bakk is a stand out. Ask anyone who worked in the Senate Tax Committee and then the conference committee, and you'll get the universal opinion that Bakk worked hard to achieve consensus on key provisions in bills, and he included GOP initiatives in them, as well. After the session ended without a tax bill, Bakk worked all the angles trying to revive the noncontroversial parts of the bill. Anyone paying close attention to these efforts couldn't help but notice that Bakk always talked about what's good for the state, not what's good for the DFL.
"One actively engaged in conducting the business of government" ... That's Tom Bakk.
On to the spectacular avoidance of the "selfish" and "short-sighted" definition of politician that Bakk has judiciously avoided.
To be blunt, Sen. Maj. Leader Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis), in his quixotic quest to "get" Governor Tim Pawlenty, seriously screwed Bakk and all his hard work. Bakk did not do the selfish and short-sighted thing which would have been to publicly place the blame for the vetoed tax bill where it belongs, on Pogemiller's back.
Let's revisit why there was no tax bill in 2007. The final tax bill included a controversial provision to add inflation back into state economic forecasting. [A change that was highly desired by both Pawlenty and then-DFL Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe when they were both running for Governor in 2002). How did that happen?
As Bakk wrote in a letter begging Pawlenty to sign the tax bill, "This provision was never discussed at any meeting of the conference committee." But it wasn't the conference committee report that the Senate voted on. Rather, the tax bill was added to a House file pending on the Senate floor. During that floor discussion, Bakk was asked by another member whether the inflation provision was in there. Bakk said it was not, which was what he believed because the game plan was to attach the conference committee report to the House bill. This was important, because Pawlenty had written a letter to the Senate saying he would veto a bill that included the inflation provision.
Some time between passing the bill on the Senate floor and before the House took it up for a floor vote, someone discovered that the inflation provision, was indeed, in the bill.
How did that happen? We've heard from several DFL Senators that a freshmen asked Pogemiller at a DFL Senate Caucus meeting last week the same question. Pogemiller said staff did it. That is a ludicrous answer because Senate staff would never do that unless Pogemiller told them to. Staff know that putting anything in a bill is a policy decision, not a staff one.
To rephrase and be clear: Pogemiller added the inflation provision to the tax bill and did not tell Tax Committee Chair Bakk he did that. That is simply unheard of in the Minnesota legislative process, which is avoiding calling it for what it truly is, which is unethical BS.
Then there's Pogemiller's hypocrisy. In our book, Politics in Minnesota: The Directory, we wrote how Pogemiller wanted to be described, "Pogemiller emphasizes the importance of a collaborative and open style of legislating to bring accountability to the process. He is an advocate of the committee process and strong committee chairs."
We were wrong, spectacularly wrong and we regret the error.
MinnPoster Doug Grow talked to some DFL Senators this week about Pogemiller, "That's not to say they've developed fondness for the Minneapolis DFLer, who has been described as condescending, arrogant, rude and manipulative. (And that's just what DFLers say about their leader.)"
Back to Bakk. He ran against Pogemiller for Senate Majority Leader and actually tied him on one ballot, but lost the final contest on the sixth ballot by only a few votes. The "selfish politician" would have called Pogemiller to task.
Bakk did not. Most likely for the good of the DFL Senate Caucus. Now that's class and that's a PIM Politician Of The Year.
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