The Wake

Governor Tim Pawlenty’s recent shift to the center may cost him some votes from hard-line Republicans Nov. 7, but he’ll likely earn those back by convincing swing voters that his new middle-ground proposals are truly what Minnesota has been waiting for.

Just this summer, Pawlenty has proposed major reforms to higher education to provide free tuition to students who meet certain requirements, suggested regulation of contracts between oil companies and gas stations to boost the use of ethanol while supporting a plan to make cars ethanol-friendly and called for a ban on prescription drug advertising.

Many think that Pawlenty’s recent proposals have been merely a campaign ploy to lure moderate voters. “This is intensely practical, vote-driven behavior,” Peter Hutchinson, the Independence Party’s gubernatorial candidate, told the Star Tribune. In other words, Pawlenty may be just trying to reach voters by proposing popular programs that may never go into practice and might have little effect on Minnesota. The South St. Paul native has also taken flak from the blogosphere and conservatives regarding his deviation to moderation lately.

His proposals could benefit a lot of people if they’re well executed. For example, ACHIEVE, his higher education reform plan, will allow many students to attend the public institution of their choice for free for two years. Students would have to graduate in the top 25 percent of their class or have comparable ACT or SAT scores. If they chose to study a math or science-related major or to teach a math or science subject, they could attend college for free for two years.

Not only will the plan encourage students to study hard throughout their senior year and resist “senioritis,” the mock disease many high school seniors use to explain their lack of motivation after being accepted to college, but it will “keep the best and brightest here in Minnesota,” says Brian McClung, Pawlenty’s campaign spokesman.

Pawlenty’s education reform plans also include expanding post-secondary enrollment options and “redesigning high schools to better prepare students for the 21st century,” McClung says.

But at what cost can these major overhauls take place? It’s not likely that Pawlenty will propose repealing his tax cuts to the very wealthy to finance his programs, as defeated DFL gubernatorial candidate Becky Lourey did. McClung says the education reform will only cost about $112 million over two years and in a state budget that will likely be somewhere in the neighborhood of $33 billion to $35 billion, the education plans shouldn’t be hard to cover. “Minnesota is currently running a surplus,” McClung says, so the state should be able to easily finance such a “small percent” of the overall budget.

Attorney General Mike Hatch, the governor’s DFL opponent in the race, seems more concerned that Pawlenty has declined a state subsidy of $473,000 in order to surpass the cap in the state’s campaign financing laws. Under the law, candidates must limit spending to $2.4 million this year if the candidate accepts the state subsidy. No other incumbent governor has declined the state subsidies since the campaign finance laws were enacted 30 years ago.

Pawlenty’s campaign, however, holds that the decision to decline state financing isn’t really the issue. Michael Krueger, Pawlenty’s campaign manager, told the Star Tribune that the opposition’s smear campaigns are too well-financed to accept state funding, a claim which has been refuted by Hatch and his allies repeatedly.

Regardless, Hatch has a lot to be worried about. Pawlenty will probably outspend Hatch, and Pawlenty’s camp thinks their new policies will beckon to moderate voters that might go either way. McClung says that Pawlenty “has not been afraid to take on” issues typically left to the Democrats. “We think people understand and appreciate him [Pawlenty] for his frankness.”