Minnesota House overrides Pawlenty veto

The Minnesota House voted 91-41 to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of a $6.6 million transportation bill. The DFL voted along party lines with the support of six Republicans to defeat Pawlenty’s veto.

DFL chair Brian Melendez released this statement Monday afternoon: “With today’s override of Governor Pawlenty’s veto, Minnesotans can finally regain some confidence that our state is back on the road to rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, reducing gridlock, and improving public transit.”

According to Eric Ostermeier and Larry Jacobs of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, this override is “only the 14th time that the Legislature has successfully overridden one of the 447 vetoes by Minnesota governors since 1939.” In their release Monday, they wrote, “Overriding a governor’s veto is both rare and very difficult. Ninety-seven percent of all vetoes have stood.”

Republicans who crossed party lines to vote against Pawlenty’s veto were Reps. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, Kathy Tingelstad, R-Andover, Bud Heidgerken, R-Freeport, Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, Neil Peterson, R-Bloomington, and Jim Abeler, R-Anoka.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak hailed Monday’s vote as progress for the area. “Facing economic uncertainty and 1 million more people expected to move to our region over the next two decades, the Legislature put years of political divide aside and instead chose to stand up for a fair and balanced solution to our transportation neglect,” he said in a press release.

“Minnesotans need a transportation system that meets our needs today and in the future,” said Rybak. “We should all be thankful that our Legislative leaders put aside partisan games and took an honorable vote for their constituents.”