VP or not VP: Vetting Pawlenty, the opposition research edition

Vice-presidential candidates rarely inspire reporters to dig deep into their past. Tim Pawlenty might or might not prove an exception in view of the nationally notorious calamity that occurred on his watch when the 35W bridge collapsed. Seeking to give the press and the blogosphere a nudge, the Democratic National Committee has launched a Republican veepstakes page, The Next Cheney, chock-full of oppo research nuggets about Pawlenty and six other purported McCain shortlisters.

Regarding Pawlenty, there’s a four-page PDF with 19 talking points. We give it a C. It’s a dull read, needlessly padded with softball stuff like Pawlenty’s promise to serve out a full term as governor (oh, wow) and a blog post from the Cato Institute that calls him a big spender (easily rebutted).

It misses entirely what ought to be the main criticism of a man who supposedly would bring executive experience to the McCain ticket: Pawlenty has been a  lousy manager of state government. He’s made a hash of the biennial budgeting process in holding the line on new taxes even in the most exigent circumstances, the better to burnish his credentials for a GOP ticket slot or a subsequent run at the US Senate. And his administration has been beset by scandals and screwups that can be put down to the political character of his appointments: creationist and Pawlenty education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke; Sheryl Corrigan, the 3M-bred Pollution Control Agency Commissioner who resigned under fire after allegedly suppressing research into chemicals manufactured by 3M; Department of Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach, who suppressed an Iron Range mining cancer study; and Lt. Gov. and former Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau, whose sins are many.

I wrote more about these cases here.