DFL challengers rip Pawlenty’s budget, but when will they offer an alternative?

A lot of Democrats want Tim Pawlenty’s job. A quintet of these gubernatorial hopefuls trekked to the Bemidji Eagles Club on President’s Day to make their case to the party faithful. The primary theme of the event: ripping Pawlenty’s proposal to solve the state’s $5 billion budget deficit.

A few quotes from The Bemidji Pioneer report:

“The wealthy have gotten away with armed robbery,” says former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton. “The wealthiest 10 percent pay less of their incomes in state and local taxes than the next 60 percent.”

Then state Rep. Paul Thissen:

“It also makes me really angry to go down to the Capitol and sit there and watch Gov. Pawlenty deliberately and methodically try to dismantle those very public institutions and public policies that have really laid the foundation for Minnesota’s promise.”

And finally state Sen. Tom Bakk:

“Under this governor’s leadership, we’re just going to manage from one fiscal crisis to another,” Bakk said. “He describes it as starving the beast, that somehow government is bad.”

Of course, the Democrats might have more credibility on the issue if they’d actually offer up a budget solution of their own. Oh yeah: They haven’t finished their listening tour. Perhaps they’ll discover a magical plan to come up with $5 billion from some farmer in Fergus Falls.