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Title: Projected State Deficit Shadows Pawlenty's Bid
Source:
Wall Street Journal
URL Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100 ... 736832.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Published: Jun 9, 2011
Author: Jonathan Weisman
Post Date: 2011-06-09 10:29:24 by go65
Keywords: None
Views: 750
Comments: 1
A projected, multibillion-dollar deficit in Minnesota, where Tim Pawlenty was governor until recently, has begun to nag at Mr. Pawlenty's presidential candidacy and his quest to assume the mantle of fiscal "truth teller." At a speech last week at the Cato Institute designed to showcase his fiscal rectitude, Mr. Pawlenty brought up the issue himself, defending his record in response to a question on Medicare from the audience. The projected-deficit issue followed him to a debate in South Carolina and to television interviews last week that preceded his formal entry into the presidential race. Mr. Pawlenty balanced each two-year state budget when he was governor, and he left behind a surplus for the current fiscal year of $663 million, according to the most recent forecast by Minnesota Management and Budget, a state agency. "We balanced the budget every two years in my state, without question," Mr. Pawlenty said at Cato, a libertarian think tank. But now, Minnesota faces financial problems. Mr. Pawlenty's critics there say they stem from short-term funding maneuvers that were used during his tenure to patch over shortfalls—and to put off tough decisions to align Minnesota's tax base with its government spending. Minnesota's projected budget gap for fiscal 2012, expressed as a percentage of the state's total general fund, ranks fourth-highest in the nation, behind Alabama, Nevada and California, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures. Mr. Pawlenty's term as governor ended in early January.
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#1. To: All (#0)
"Thats because your basically and idiot."
Badeye posted on 2011-04-29 10:30:22 ET
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