Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced line-item vetoes on several items in the bonding bill Monday. This was a modest surprise for some in state political circles because it was believed that Pawlenty might veto the whole thing to force legislators to make the unpopular choices about which projects to cut. Instead, Pawlenty did the dirty work himself, but cut the bill down to $718 million — well below the $825 he originally proposed (the legislature passed a $925 million bill). The Star Tribune has a write-up that lists some of the projects.
In any event local pols may have fodder for the upcoming election but by and large this seems to be a mixed bag for northern Minnesota. It could have been a lot better but it could have easily been much worse.
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