Politics to the max

Democrats want Molnau's outser

Like it was Molnau's fault that the bridge collapsed....oh I forgot the MN democrats definition of an accident

accident (n.) something one tries to avoid; happening without warning; something the democrats have, and the republicans make happen; neglect; political hay.

Yup, this is all it is. In MN we bitch about the roads all the time yet we have no real "toll" roads like they do in other states, while we do have a pay-to-use lane (if you are alone in the lane,free to car poolers) it is not really a toll road...we have taxes up the yin-yang which, while its supposed to go to road maintainance, keeps getting re-routed by the legislature for other matters which are more "pressing"....we have two seasons in MN-Winter & Road Construction (winter lasts nearly 9months)....while we don't like the construction we know that with the constant changing temps it is a necessity and that pot holes that were filled in 2 months ago will be back again.

Why am I going thru all this? Because I have not seen anything that says Molnau has done any worse a job than any other Transportation Commisioner...her problem is, she is doing two jobs....Molnau is also our Lt. Governor. It is not unusual for our LtG to do two jobs though....under Ventura his LtG was heading the Department of Education....it is all based on the LtG's background.

Is she over worked....could be, but then who isn't. Is the 35W bridge collapse her fault? I have not seen anything so far that says she had taken the reports/studies/inspections less serious than any other states Transportation Commisioner.

Hey Dems, shut up!! I can just hear the compaigning going on nest year about how it was the republicans' faults that the steel was fatigued....or how there was too much equipment on the bridge....or how the bridge was designed with no supports.

Really the biggest problem we are having, and I agree with, is that they are pushing for the rebuilding of the bridge too quickly. Not because of anything totally stupid like a memorial--I'm sorry but I just don't think one is needed for this, it was a tragedy yes but not every tragedy needs a memorial--but because (a)they have rushed the plans and it sounds like they are using the same or very simular plans to what they had before, (b)there is some controversy over how the "bidding" process took place...not just by one disgruntled contractor who didn't get the job....it was by every contractor who didn't get the job, that tells me that something went on there, and (c)they haven't even gotten the funding for the project yet...it has only been "promised"....like the funding for the mandated educational programs had been promised (and effectively killed because of political games).

So they are pushing forward with their plans...really they have to, we've got that major GOP convention coming next year....so in order to have to funds to pay for it now they have to take money from projects already going or on the table to start...this puts those projects on hold....You can think of it as having to pay the rent, gas/electric, food, car, gas for the car, etc and suddenly one of the kids gets really sick and has to go to the hospital...you've got to get the cash from somewhere so you borrow from one of the budget spots you've already got.

Actually its a tad more complicated because the funding can only come from the account set up for that specific catagory....kind of like having a checkbook for each bill catagory (housing/auto/utilities/creditors/etc) and the only way you can draw from funds on an account for a different reason than that stated is to go to three bank managers and have them sign off on it.

In this case they would have to go thru the house, the senate, and the governor's office--sounds easy until you read a story like this, and then you remember "oh yeah, this is politics....time to make hay".

See this is way Jesse was such a refreshing blast of air....he would have called in the members giving problems with passing the funds, locked the door, and then served chili to them all...and if that didn't work, he'd feed it to his dog! My understanding is that his dog is worse than a "Walter Fart".

but all this gets back to....let Mornau do her job....she's doing the best anyone can do under the circumstances and national...heck world....spotlight.