Governor Pawlenty delivered the Governor’s annual State of the State address yesterday in Rochester. The Star Tribune summarized the address in today’s paper.
The State of the State is, according to the Governor: “Good, but not good enough.” I think that’s a fair statement. Minnesota is a great state in which to live and raise a family. I moved here from Iowa. I prefer Minnesota. We can also do better. Can anyone dispute that? I think we can all do more to improve the quality of life in Minnesota, and the City of Eden Prairie will do its part.
Governor Pawlenty outlined a number of policy preferences in his address yesterday. Is he on the right track? You decide. I think his heart is in the right place, but I think he’s in a box to some extent. He has an agenda for many things that the state government can do to improve life for Minnesotans, but he does not express a willingness to ask Minnesota citizens to pay for the improvements they say they want.
Telling citizens they can have more of something (i.e – services) for less of something (i.e. – money) is a risky proposition. Some might call it pandering. I’m not saying that the Governor is doing that, but I think we’re taking steps in that direction, and if we were to move in that direction in a substantial way, I don’t think that serves citizens very well from any level of government.
Tomorrow, I will deliver the annual State of the City address at the January meeting of the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce luncheon. I will tell the audience what we accomplished in 2004 and what we are planning to do in 2005. I’ve been working on the address for a week or so. I saw the power point presentation yesterday. I think that it looks pretty good. It looks like we know what we’re doing here.
I will not pander.
