That's Emperor Pawlenty, our Governor. A front page article in the Star Tribune this morning reports that no contractors have come forward to bid on what is probably the largest road construction project to come along in the state in years, the rebuilding of the Crosstown.
Why no bids? Because the state has no money to pay the contractors. Because the governor won't raise gasoline taxes or any other kind of taxes and like his godfather, President Bush, has instead mortgaged our children's future away by borrowing money instead of asking us to pay now for what we use.
But even the state borrowing can't cover the costs of all of the construction and other state needs. And the governor had already taken money from other projects to keep the Crosstown project alive. But the real kicker was that he asked the contractors to put their own money upfront on the project to keep it going with the promise that eventually the state would pay them back.
Surprise, surprise, the contractors have looked at this governor and his track record and said forget about it.
Three years of fiscally irresponsible choices and deceit about what it really costs to run the state are finally becoming exposed and there is no place to hide. We can't afford to pay to maintain let alone improve our crumbling infrastructure. But hey, we haven't had our taxes raised.
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