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TruthToTell, Mon., June 6-9AM: BUDGET STANDOFF: Blinking? or Blindfolded? - KFAI FM 90.3/106.7/KFAI.org

The budget impasse continues as this is written with threats of a state government shutdown on Fiscal Year end – June 30. Will state workers be furloughed on July 1? Many have received notices that, indeed, they will be told to stay home on July 1 in the absence of a budget resolution between DFL Governor Mark Dayton and GOP Legislative majority leadership by the June 30 deadline.

Many citizens find the debate revolving around some seemingly arcane issues, but the looming $5 billion deficit and a Constitutional requirement for a balanced budget underlying the budget talks.

Dayton has already vetoed untold budget and policy bills he finds onerous, and he has cut in half his original request for a tax increase on high-income earners. Dayton considers this a compromise and enough to spawn similar concessions from the Republican majority. They disagree and are stonewalling him for their all-cuts budget. He has asked for a mediator to intercede. They have refused.

We jump into this discussion in the wake of a two-part series of articles authored by MinnPost columnist and political analyst, Eric Black, taking on the fine print in Minnesota’s constitution versus the historical reality of governing in the 21^st Century. The so-called shutdown in 2005, when the partisanship was reversed, was essentially ignored, thanks to a judge’s ruling and then-Attorney General Mike Hatch’s insistence that the requirement that “No money shall be paid out of the treasury of this state except in pursuance of an appropriation by law” represent(s) a breach of separation of powers and that “core functions” of government cannot cease.

Memories are short. Few paid attention to the two-week stoppage six years ago, but this year, it could be a nasty cessation of salaries and state services. Resistance abounds to an all-cuts approach to the deficit and to governance, and budget analysts and activists will join us as well to say why.