Pawlenty gives his veto pen to the historical society

Gov. Tim Pawlenty handed over artifacts from his time as governor on Monday including an over-sized “Veto Pen.” In a press release from the governor’s office, Pawlenty boasted that he broke the record for most vetoes in one year and that he used the veto or line-item veto 299 times in his 8 years in office.

The statement from his office read, “Today, (Monday, December, 27, 2010) Governor Tim Pawlenty turned over documents and artifacts from his eight years as Governor to the Minnesota Historical Society, including an oversized ‘Veto Pen’ and the actual veto stamps he used. During his time in office, Governor Pawlenty issued 299 complete bill and line-item vetoes, including vetoing $7.5 billion in tax increases. In 2008, Pawlenty set a record for the most bill vetoes issued in one year by a Minnesota governor.”

Among those 299 bills that Pawlenty vetoed in recent years: a bill to legalize marijuana for terminally ill patients, a bill to allow the surviving member of a same-sex couple to make decisions for their dead partner, a voter fraud prevention bill that would alert felons that their voting rights had been revoked, a bill to standardize anti-bullying procedures in schools, a bill to streamline absentee voting, a bill that decriminalized bong water, state funding for stem cell research, a bill that would regulate toxins in children’s toys, and a $1 billion tax bill,