Labor, Politics Collide Over Bridge Reconstruction

Navigating the complex and closely watched politics of the I-35W reconstruction project may prove to be a dangerous task indeed.

With conservative pundits lambasting DFLers for politicizing the disaster, DFL leaders accusing Gov. Pawlenty of hurrying the project’s progress to impress national Republican leaders and organized labor groups making stringent demands of the project, Pawlenty and elected leaders from both parties face a bevy of political challenges going forward.

In the aftermath of the collapse, Brian Bakst of the Associated Press published details of several related e-mail messages sent between members of the governor’s staff. In that article, Bakst described one particular exchange related to the coming Republican National Convention that has led some DFLers to wonder out loud whether  Pawlenty was going to rush the reconstruction for less-than-statesmanlike purposes.  In today’s New York Times, however, Pawlenty attempted to put that notion to bed:

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“Politics isn’t rocket science, you know,” said Steve Murphy, a state senator and Democratic leader of the Transportation Committee. “Quite frankly, there’s no reason to rush headlong into building this bridge.”

Mr. Pawlenty sharply denied any notion that he was racing to build a bridge to enhance his image when he plays host to his party in 2008. “That’s silly,” he said Wednesday, noting that even with an expedited construction schedule, the bridge would not be complete until after the convention.

“That is no factor in how and when this will be built,” Mr. Pawlenty said.

When asked via e-mail about this apparent contradiction Thursday, Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung echoed the governor’s position, saying that “the Republican National Convention will have no bearing on the bridge construction schedule.  The RNC will be in the Twin Cities for a few days — the new I-35W bridge will be here for decades and decades to come, and the governor is committed to ensuring that it is building both correctly and quickly.”

But some organized labor groups are not so sure.  The teamsters’ union expressed concern today that 1931 Davis-Bacon Act requirements, along with several other fair labor practices, would be suspended or violated in a hurried reconstruction project.  In a press release, Teamsters Local 120 President Brad Slawson said he is also worried by MNDOT’s “frantic pace in awarding preliminary contracts.”

Some degree of urgency is obviously necessary under the circumstances,” but MnDOT must recognize that the tragedy of the bridge collapse does not somehow trump the applicability of state and federal labor laws during reconstruction,” Slawson said. “Minnesotans support a reconstruction timeline that results in a responsibly built bridge that will safely serve motorists for years to come. They aren’t interested in hurriedly and haphazardly assembling something more akin to a political prop than a long-lasting bridge.”

Slawson questioned MnDOT’s “fast track” strategy for reconstruction.  “If MnDOT is going to ‘fast track’ anything, it should be the investigation into the cause of the fatal collapse. How can MnDOT be talking about unveiling designs for a new bridge when it doesn’t know why the old bridge fell?” Slawson said. “How can MnDOT consider risking even more lives by rushing reconstruction with ‘fast track’ when it still hasn’t explained the deaths of at least nine Minnesotans?”

On the question of whether the state would seek to suspend Davis-Bacon for the rebuilding project (as was attempted after the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans), McClung said that Gov. Pawlenty “is not interested in seeking any waiver or suspension of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions, either on the state or federal level.” 

Slawson expressed skepticism, saying that “Stating that `I am not interested’ in doing something and ‘I will not’ do something are two very different things.  We’re in a situation where a governor has declared a state of emergency and the president has tried repeatedly to use states of emergency to run roughshod over Davis-Bacon and other laws that protect construction workers.  So we’re concerned about these laws being fully respected and strongly enforced, particularly given the governor’s obsession with fast tracking reconstruction.”

Few things about I-35′s path across the Mississippi are clear just yet.  One thing is, however:  there will be plenty of political land mines along the way.