Shutting down the most popular programs is a common budget ploy. It’s likely that campgrounds were shut down, to garner support for more taxing and spending.
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Dayton’s cynical shutdown
Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | 6/18/11 | Jonathan Blake
Posted on Saturday, June 18, 2011 7:54:32 PM by rhema
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Dayton’s plan is appalling — not only for the services it deems “critical” but, more important, for those it does not. For example, the governor plans to stop all aid payments to schools.
Additionally, health care providers who serve Minnesotans on medical assistance will also go without payment. And at a legislative hearing this week, an administration official acknowledged that bridge assessments also did not make Dayton’s list, apparently failing to meet the governor’s “critical service” standard.
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Dayton is hiding behind the state’s courts and Constitution to justify a cynical and draconian plan motivated more by politics than principle. For evidence, contrast Dayton’s shutdown plan with those that preceded it.
Contingency planning for a government shutdown is nothing new to this state. Gov. Tim Pawlenty developed one prior to the state’s 10-day partial shutdown in 2005, and Gov. Jesse Ventura planned for a shutdown that was ultimately averted in 2001.
A comparison of the plans is telling. Dayton has deemed as “critical” not only his media and communications staff, but also staff at his official residence. Among those employed at the governor’s mansion are Dayton’s chef and gardener.
In 2001, by comparison, Ventura planned to all but shutter the mansion. Aid payments to schools? They were included in the Ventura and Pawlenty plans.
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