DFL Stood Up. Again.

Governor Pawlenty is quietly, unilaterally, and rightfully utilizing his executive authority to release aid monies to S.E. Minnesota's flood victims, and the democrats are hopping mad:

With agreement on a special legislative session still elusive, Gov. Tim Pawlenty has unilaterally opened the state's coffers to aid flood recovery in southeastern Minnesota -- one of the emergencies a session would likely deal with.

With that action and his announcement that his staff has set up a new one-stop flood recovery website, Pawlenty continued to announce initiatives that suggest progress is underway, special session or no. And DFLers continued blasting him for not yet calling one.

The truth is, as has been hammered by many a conservative voice in the weeks following the I-35W bridge collapse, a special session was never needed. The truth is that the "no disaster left behind" DFL has always seen this situation as an opportunity to set Minnesota back on what they saw as the "right track" toward profligate spending and big government:

DFL legislative leaders have spelled out that they want a more expansive session, which they would have the ability to control because only they can end a special session after the governor has called it.

In a letter delivered to Pawlenty on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher indicated they want to revisit the tax bill that Pawlenty vetoed earlier this year and the broad transportation bill he also vetoed.

BUT

Pawlenty repeated Thursday that he is unwilling to call a session that isn't narrowly focused.

He has proposed $200 million in bonding focused on both road and bridge safety and flood relief, additional money for flood recovery and property tax relief. If a session were limited to those items, "I could call it tomorrow," he said.

He also has said he would support a gas tax increase of as much as a nickel a gallon.

"I've extended an olive branch to reach some compromise," he said during a radio interview. "It doesn't look like they're going to accept it, so we're going to have to go back to the drawing board."

AND

Pawlenty said Thursday that a broader transportation bill could wait until the regular legislative session that begins in February.

The DFL, like the overbearing bridezillas that they are, have again been rightfully stood up at the altar of Minnesota Politics.

Perhaps that is why they will always be the bridesmaid, but never the bride.