Tim Pawlenty
Encyclopedia
Timothy James "Tim" Pawlenty icon (born November 27, 1960), also known affectionately among supporters as T-Paw, is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota
(2003–2011). He was a Republican
candidate for President of the United States
in the 2012 election
from May to August 2011. He previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives
(1993–2003) where he served two terms as majority leader
.
Pawlenty was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota
and raised in nearby South St. Paul
. He graduated from University of Minnesota
with a B.A.
in political science
and earned a J.D.
from the University of Minnesota Law School
. His early career included working as a labor law attorney and the vice president of a software company. After settling in the city of Eagan
with his wife, Pawlenty was appointed to the city's Planning Commission and was elected to the Eagan City Council at the age of 28. He won a seat as a state representative in 1992, representing District 38B in suburban Dakota County
. He was re-elected four times, and voted majority leader by House Republicans in 1998.
After winning a narrow Republican primary in 2002, Pawlenty won a three-way election for Governor of Minnesota, and he was re-elected in 2006 by a margin of one percent. His campaign platform focused on balancing the budget without raising taxes. During Pawlenty's governorship, he eliminated his state's budget deficit using spending cuts and borrowing heavily from earmarked funds. Pawlenty did not raise income taxes during his governorship, but did enact targeted increases in sales tax and user fees. His administration advocated for numerous public works projects, including work on the Northstar Commuter Rail Line, and the construction of Target Field
, a Major League Baseball
stadium in Minneapolis. He signed a bill mandating 20% ethanol in gasoline by 2013. He cut health care spending to help balance the budget, and signed an executive order rejecting federal funds related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
. He led worldwide trips for business leaders and trade delegations to explore trade opportunities. In the 2007–2008 term he served as chairman of the National Governors Association
.
Pawlenty was rumored as a contender for president as early as 2005, and was closely involved with U.S. Senator John McCain
's presidential campaign in 2008. Pawlenty began early steps toward a run in late 2009. He formally announced his presidential campaign
in May 2011, running on a strongly conservative platform. A day after coming in third place in the August 13, 2011 Ames Straw Poll
, Governor Pawlenty announced that he was withdrawing from the race. On September 12, 2011, Pawlenty announced his endorsement of former Governor Mitt Romney
of Massachusetts.
, the son of Virginia Frances (née Oldenburg) and Eugene Joseph Pawlenty, who drove a milk truck. Pawlenty's father was Polish American
and his mother was German American
. His mother died of cancer when he was 16. Pawlenty grew up in nearby South St. Paul, where he played ice hockey
on his high school's junior varsity squad, the South Saint Paul Packers.
Originally planning to become a dentist
, Pawlenty enrolled in the University of Minnesota
, becoming the only one of his siblings to attend college. During the summers of 1980 and 1982, he worked as an intern at the office of U.S. Senator
David Durenberger
. In 1983, he graduated with a B.A.
in political science
. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor
from the University of Minnesota Law School
in 1986. While in law school, he met his future wife, Mary Anderson
. They married in 1987.
Pawlenty first worked as a labor law
attorney at the firm Rider Bennett
(later Rider, Bennett, Egan & Arundel), where he had interned during law school. Later, he became vice president of a software
company, Wizmo Inc.
Now settled in Eagan, Minnesota
, a suburb of Minneapolis – Saint Paul, Pawlenty was appointed to the city's Planning Commission by then Mayor Vic Ellison. A year later, at the age of 28, he was elected to a term on the City Council.
Pawlenty got his start in state politics in 1990 as a campaign advisor for Jon Grunseth
's losing bid for Minnesota governor. After Pawlenty himself became governor, he appointed Grunseth's former wife, Vicky Tigwell, to the board of the Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport, which became an ethics and accountability issue in 2003.
in 1992, winning 49.1 percent of the vote in District 38B (suburban Dakota County
). In the House he authored bills instituting term limits for committee chairmen, funding for infant parenting classes, minimum sentences for repeat domestic violence
offenders, and community notification for sex offenders. In response to a state budget surplus he advocated for a tax reduction rather than expanded education funding. He was reelected four times and was chosen House Majority Leader when the Republicans became the majority party in the State Legislature in 1998.
for that office. Pawlenty shifted his sights to the U.S. Senate
but he abandoned those plans when Vice President
Dick Cheney
asked him to step aside to allow former St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman
to challenge Senator Paul Wellstone
without Republican primary opposition. Pawlenty reasserted his original gubernatorial ambition and won a hard-fought and very narrow victory over Sullivan in the Republican party primary election.
In the general election, Pawlenty faced two strong opponents. His main rival was veteran Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) state senator Roger Moe
. Former Democratic Congressman Tim Penny
ran on the Independence Party ticket. Up until mid-October 2002, the three were essentially tied in the polls. Pawlenty's major campaign stances included: a pledge not to raise tax
es to balance the state's budget deficit (while allowing for increases in license and user fees); that visa
expiration dates be required to be printed on driver's license
s; that women seeking an abortion
be required to wait at least 24 hours; enactment of a concealed carry gun law; and reform of the state's education
requirements. Pawlenty won the election with 43.8 percent of the vote. His largest gains after the October three-way tie were reportedly among voters in the suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
and Minnesota Twins
, and bond issues for public transit, including the Northstar commuter rail line.
The 2006 gubernatorial race included Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch
, of the DFL
, Peter Hutchinson
of the Independence Party
, and Ken Pentel
of the Green Party
. Pawlenty won, defeating Hatch by a margin of less than one percent, though both the state House and Senate gained DFL majority.
slogan "no new taxes." His governorship was characterized by a historically low rate of spending growth. According to the Minnesota Management and Budget Department, general-fund expenditures from 2004 to 2011 increased an average of 3.5 percent per two-year term, compared to an average of 21.1 percent from 1960 to 2003 (these numbers, however, are not inflation-adjusted). University of Minnesota
political science professor Larry Jacobs said that slowing down state spending and opposing tax increases were the "signature issue" of Pawlenty's governorship.
In his first year as governor, Pawlenty inherited a projected two-year budget deficit of $4.3 billion, the largest in Minnesota's history. After a contentious budget session with a Democrat-controlled Senate
, he signed a package of fee increases, spending reductions, and government reorganization which eliminated the deficit. The budget reduced the rate of funding increases for state services, including transportation, social services, and welfare. It also enacted a perennial proposal to restructure city aid based on immediate need, rather than historical factors. In negotiations the governor agreed to several compromises, abandoning a desired public employee wage freeze and property tax restrictions.
During his second term, Pawlenty erased a $2.7 billion deficit by cutting spending, shifting payments, and using one-time federal stimulus money His final budget (2010–2011) was the state's first two-year period since 1960 in which net government expenditures decreased. Pawlenty has claimed this as "the first time in 150 years" that spending has been cut, but fact-checkers have disputed this claim as no public budget records prior to 1960 are known to exist.
Pawlenty has been criticized by some for providing a short-term budget solution but coming up short in his long-term strategy as Governor. The state department of Management and Budget reports that the two-year budget starting in July of 2011 is projected to come up $4.4 billion short. Former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson
, a Republican
, criticized Pawlenty's budget strategy: he borrowed more than $1 billion from the tobacco settlement (money set aside for heath care), borrowed more than $1.4 billion from K-12 education funding, borrowed more than $400 [million] from the Health Care Access Fund for low-income families, among other short-term shifts in accounting. The result was a $5 billion deficit, the seventh largest in the United States. Minnesota property taxes rose $2.5 billion, more than the previous 16 years combined, and Moody's
lowered the state's bond rating. Carlson told Time
, "I don't think any governor has left behind a worse financial mess than he [Pawlenty] has." Pawlenty responded "My friend governor Arne Carlson is, of course, now an Obama and John Kerry supporter".
While Pawlenty said he was "confident" in his right to use unallotment, the Minnesota Supreme Court
ultimately decided against him, voting 4 to 3 in a decision in May 2010. His budget had been the subject of a lawsuit in Ramsey County District Court, which was decided against him. Judge Kathleen Gearin decided Pawlenty exceeded his constitutional authority in making unilateral spending cuts to a $5.3 million special dietary program that he had unalloted. Attorney David Lillehaug said initially, "This is, I don't think it's understating this to say, this is one of the most important court cases in Minnesota legal history." Pawlenty announced the following day that he would appeal; he filed his defense in February, and arguments were heard on March 15. In May, the Supreme Court affirmed Judge Gearin, deciding that "Because the legislative and executive branches never enacted a balanced budget for the 2010–2011 biennium, use of the unallotment power to address the unresolved deficit exceeded the authority granted to the executive branch by the statute". Pawlenty responded:
After the court ruling, as the 2010 legislative session drew to a close, Pawlenty vetoed a budget which would fix a $2.9 billion deficit by adding a new tax bracket for six-figure incomes. In response to the proposal, he criticized Democrats for attempting to raise taxes in the midst of an extremely difficult economic situation. Eventually, due in part to the efforts of House Speaker Margaret Kelliher, who was running for the 2010 Democratic nomination for governor of Minnesota, the General Assembly passed legislation approving nearly all the original unallotments.
prohibits state-run gambling outside of Native territory, Pawlenty proposed negotiating with Minnesota's 11 tribes over profit sharing of their casinos. Legislators also pushed a proposal to turn Canterbury Park
horse track into a racino
. The plan was poorly received by Northern Tribes who would operate part of the racino, citing reluctance to compete with other tribes. Tribes with casinos opposed the expanded gambling and some legislators objected on moral grounds that the state shouldn't exploit problem gamblers. Politicians in heavy tribal areas feared losing campaign-finance sources if they supported the plan.
Delays by the Legislature ended with the bill being pulled from committee.
Tribes had spent millions lobbying legislatures in 2004.
Pawlenty worked throughout 2006 to fund a Minnesota Twins
baseball stadium
in Minneapolis. The resulting Minnesota Twins-Hennepin County ballpark bill called for an increased county sales tax which passed the state legislature and was symbolically signed in at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
. The majority of Hennepin County commissioners did not feel a referendum
was necessary to approve the sales tax because of the delay it would cause. Pawlenty and the Legislature agreed, citing 10 years already of the project's debate and exempted the county from state law requiring one in the bill.
In June 2006, Pawlenty signed a $999.9 million public works bill that included funding for additional work on the Northstar Commuter rail line
(a change in position from reservations about the idea he initially expressed), an expanded Faribault
prison, a bioscience building at the University of Minnesota
, and science facilities at Minnesota State University
in Mankato. The bill also funded a $26 million expansion of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management
.
In 2011, Pawlenty shut down an Islamic finance program, that was part of a larger program to increase home ownership in Minnesota, and his spokesperson said that the program accommodated the Muslim ban on interest
. Adam Sorensen from TIME
questioned whether this was a case of double standards, pointing out New York's kosher food regulations, Blue Laws
that prohibit alcohol sales on Sundays, and Pawlenty's own creation of "The Governor's Council On Faith-Based And Community Initiatives".
Pawlenty oversaw the repeal of the Profile of Learning Kindergarten through 12th grade
graduation requirements and sought to reinstate them during his governorship. Renamed the Minnesota Academic Standards, they were guided by Department of Education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke. The bill's first draft raised several concerns by the education review boards including the amount of content, age-appropriateness, and a Europe
an-centric view of the social sciences portion. Yecke revised and expanded material based on the response. Even as both Legislative houses passed the Academic Standards bill, her confirmation as commissioner was rejected by the DFL majority Minnesota Senate. She was seen as an outsider coming from Virginia
and became unpopular having pushed the academic reforms during a tight budget session as well as her critical look of Minnesota schools. In her confirmation hearing DFLers also noted concern over her conservative viewpoints.
In June 2006, Pawlenty proposed the ACHIEVE program for the top 25% of high school graduates. The program would pay for tuition for the first 2 years (4 years for selected fields such as science, technology, engineering and math) and would cost the state an estimated $112 million per 2-year cycle. However the program was not included in the 2007 higher education bill.
Pawlenty used an accounting change called a tax shift to balance the state deficit without raising taxes. School districts statewide may unexpectedly lose $58 million in interest and reserve revenue.
In 2010, Pawlenty vetoed a bill (HF 3164), which the legislature had passed 110 to 20, calling for Minnesota State Colleges & Universities (MnSCU) to revamp its credit transferring system within five years to fix "minimal loss of credits for transferring students" who had been losing between 10 and 30 percent of their credits. Pawlenty found it "unnecessary" because MnSCU was fixing their system already "through internal actions and policy changes".
During Pawlenty's first term, urban traffic congestion was a significant concern of voters. He appointed his lieutenant governor, Carol Molnau
, as transportation commissioner, for which she was approved by the legislature in May 2004. Molnau attempted to reform the transportation department, (Mn/DOT), using concepts such as "design-build
". Legislators criticized Molnau's performance as transportation commissioner, citing ineffective leadership and management, and removed her from that role in February 2008, a decision Pawlenty said was motivated by partisanship.
Pawlenty favored raising fees and imposing toll lanes on roads as the primary means of discouraging excessive traffic. During his term, the carpool lanes of Interstate 394
leading into downtown Minneapolis were converted into high-occupancy toll lanes. Pawlenty used or threatened vetoes in 2005, 2007 and 2008 on legislation funding proposed highway expansion, infrastructure repairs, road maintenance, and mass transit. The 2008 veto was in spite of Pawlenty's announcement that he would consider reversing his opposition to a state gas tax increase for funding road and bridge repairs, in the wake of the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge.
Pawlenty had opposed the Northstar Commuter Rail as a legislator but changed his position in 2004, announcing a funding plan to jump start the project, when the Bush administration determined the rail line was deemed cost-effective and time-saving for commuters.
In April 2008 during the budget bonding bill signing, Pawlenty used his line-item veto on $70 million pledged toward the building of the Central Corridor
light-rail project, intended to connect Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In vetoing the expenditure, Pawlenty did not consult Peter Bell, head of the Metro Council
and project leader. Pawlenty stated that he vetoed the bill in order to send a message to the Legislature, which had exceeded his initial budget request, that they needed to "stay focused, be fiscally disciplined, set priorities and solve this budget crisis in a fiscally disciplined way." Pawlenty however was supportive of the project and had requested the money in the bonding bill he submitted to the Minnesota State Legislature. The veto disappointed some of Minnesota's congressional representatives in Washington, including Minnesota's Republican Senator Norm Coleman
, who pledged to "raise my voice as strong as I can, as loud as I can. The federal commitment is there."
Though Pawlenty's veto might have delayed the ability of the state to receive federal matching funds for the project, Bell said the project was not derailed. The Central Corridor funding issue was resolved on May 19, 2008 with the state pledging its original amount towards the project after legislators compromised with Pawlenty's budget requests.
There were Republican state legislators who supported other cuts of the bonding bill, including Doug Magnus, the ranking Republican on the House Transportation Finance Division, who praised Pawlenty's "fiscal responsibility." Critics, including Chris Coleman
, Mayor of Saint Paul, called Pawlenty's veto "political gamesmanship," seeing the move as retribution for the Legislature's successful override of Pawlenty's veto of a transportation bonding bill. They noted cuts overwhelmingly targeted Democratic districts, and Democratic stronghold Saint Paul most heavily.
Pawlenty made two large efforts to expand penalties for sexual offenders. In response to his first proposal in 2005, the state legislature passed a large package of sentencing reforms. One new instrument was the possibility of a life sentence without parole for serious offenders, although Pawlenty expressed disapproval at the courts' reluctance to use this option: only seven individuals received such a sentence in the first two years of implementation. Pawlenty made a push for even harsher sentences in 2010, which increased the presumptive sentence for first-degree sex offenses from 12 years to 25 years and increased it further for repeat offenders. At the same time he advocated for a $90 million expansion of the state's civil commitment program for sexual offenders, maintaining that the increased criminal sentences would keep the commitment program's cost under control. According to a single report in the Star Tribune
, "A report on Minnesota's sex-offender program delivered to legislators in the final days of the Pawlenty administration was heavily edited by a top political appointee to reflect the former governor's skepticism about the effectiveness of treatment and to delete arguments for expanded community resources for offenders."
Early in 2006, after issuing a study that estimated the cost of illegal immigration to the state
as approximately $188 million, Pawlenty announced a program for changing the way the state dealt with persons who were in the United States illegally. Pawlenty said that the economic benefits of illegal immigration did not justify the illegal behavior. Pawlenty's extensive proposal included the designation of 10 state law enforcement officials as the Minnesota Illegal Immigration Enforcement Team, "trained to question, detain and arrest suspected illegal immigrants" with a focus on "such crimes as human trafficking, identity theft, methamphetamine distribution and terrorism." He rounded out his proposal with tougher penalties for false identification, and instituting a fine of up to $5,000 for employers of illegal immigrants. His proposal was challenged by DFL senators who preferred increased legal immigration to punitive action.
Minnesota has mandated a 10% mixture of gasoline
and ethanol
(gasohol) since 1997. Pawlenty signed into law in May 2005 a bill that will raise the minimum mandated mixture to 20% in 2013. Pawlenty has also lobbied the Governors' Ethanol Coalition to mandate higher ethanol use nationwide.
Conservative Republican governors were not supportive of Pawlenty's presentation on clean energy to the governor's association, which he gave in cooperation with Ed Rendell
, who is the governor of Pennsylvania and the National Governors Association's Democratic vice-chairman. With Kathleen Sebelius
of Kansas, Pawlenty is cochairman of the association's energy committee. The effort received "adamant opposition" from governors of petroleum
(oil) producing states.
newspaper opined that the credibility of Pawlenty's commissioner of health, Dianne Mandernach, suffered when a website posting by the department suggested that abortion might have a role in breast cancer. She also angered many when it was learned she had delayed releasing government research on cancer in miners. In 2007, Mandernach resigned.
In 2005, Pawlenty asked a U.S. Senate subcommittee to allow his MinnesotaCare
health plan to expand and continue allowing state residents and employees to import cheaper Canadian prescription drugs.
In 2007, Pawlenty signed into law the 2007 Omnibus Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill, which provided funding for the Health Care Transformation Task Force, a panel of health care experts charged with exploring ways to reduce health care spending, improve quality, and ensure that Minnesota develops a universal health care plan by 2011.
He has recently used health care funding cuts as a mechanism to balance the state budget. After years of assuring doctors that the state sick tax would only be used to fund health welfare programs, in 2009 Pawlenty recommended a 3% cut in physician reimbursements from the state and asked that the sick tax be put instead into the state's general budget. Pawlenty used a line-item veto to remove $381 million from health and human services funding, which could lead to 35,000 Minnesotans losing their General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) health insurance in 2011. Hennepin County Medical Center
—the largest provider of health care to Minnesota's poor and uninsured—closed two clinics, reduced its staff and reduced access to non-emergency services. State Senator Linda Berglin
wrote a bill that would extend GAMC funding, which the Senate is considering.
In 2010, he refused federal health care funds including more than $1 billion to expand the number of Minnesotans covered by Medicaid, $68 million for a high-risk insurance pool, $1 million to help set up an insurance exchange where consumers could shop for health coverage, and $850,000 for teenage pregnancy prevention. Pawlenty accepted a $500,000 abstinence-only sex education grant that will require $350,000 in matching state money. Pawlenty said, "It doesn't say we have to apply for all of them."
Pawlenty's first term coincided with the deployment of National Guardsmen from numerous states, connected with the War on Terror
and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
. During his two terms Pawlenty made trips to Iraq
, Afghanistan
, Bosnia
, Kosovo
, and Kuwait
visiting Minnesota troops.
Pawlenty was visited in 2004 by Mexican
President
Vicente Fox
in talks to strengthen trade. Fox announced that his country would open a consulate in Minnesota the next year, removing the need for Mexican residents in the state to travel out of state for identification papers and other materials. In mid-2006, in response to illegal immigration, he sent Minnesota National Guardsmen to the U.S.–Mexico border at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Pawlenty took a delegation of nearly 200 Minnesotan business, government, academic and civic leaders on a weeklong trip to China
in mid-November 2005. The stated objectives were to provide a forum for companies to acquire market information, assess market potential, evaluate market entry strategies and identify potential business partners, as well as to promote Chinese investment in Minnesota. Pawlenty also led Minnesota trade delegations to Canada
in 2003, Poland
and the Czech Republic
in 2004, India
in 2007, and Israel
in 2008.
Throughout his eight-year tenure Pawlenty hosted a weekly one-hour radio show on WCCO-AM
, a tradition he inherited from his predecessor as governor, Jesse Ventura
. Pawlenty was the chairman of the National Governors Association
for the 2007–2008 term. He also served as Chair of the Midwestern Governors Association
in 2006.
In 2007, it was announced that Pawlenty would be serving in a lead role for McCain as a national cochair of his presidential exploratory committee which led to Pawlenty becoming cochairman of McCain's campaign (along with Phil Gramm
and Tom Loeffler
). In January 2008 a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune suggested Pawlenty's renewed focus on his proposed immigration reform plans might be politically motivated as counterbalance to McCain's less favorable guest worker program.
For many weeks, Pawlenty was widely considered to be a leading candidate for the vice-presidential nomination on the Republican ticket with John McCain
in the 2008 presidential election
. McCain surprisingly chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
.
In 2008 Pawlenty expressed support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). But in 2010 Pawlenty claimed that he had made those statements solely as a surrogate for presidential nominee McCain and never actually supported the idea himself.
identified him as a potential candidate for president. Pawlenty decided not to seek a third term as governor, and so was not a candidate in the November 2010 gubernatorial election
. In July 2009, Public Policy Polling conducted a poll that showed that President Obama was favored to win against Pawlenty in his home state of Minnesota by more than 10 points. In October 2009, a CNN article suggested that Pawlenty was contemplating a 2012 White House bid. Among those advising him in preparation for a potential presidential run is lobbyist and former Congressman Vin Weber
.
In late 2009, Pawlenty began taking steps that many saw as leading to a 2012 presidential bid. He visited Iowa
in November 2009 and April 2010, making political speeches. In January 2011, the New York Times reported that "Few Americans, in fact, even know his name." In January 2011, Pawlenty told the College Republicans
group at The George Washington University "If I decide to run it would be for president, not vice president."
. In his extended interview with Jon Stewart
on The Daily Show
, he said he thinks United States Social Security
and Medicare
need to be cut to balance the federal budget. Pawlenty believes that state governments should outlaw abortion, except for cases of rape, incest, and to save a woman's life. He thinks the United States Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade
wrongly, abortion being a state, not a federal, matter. He opposes same-sex marriage
and civil unions. He would like to reinstate "Don't ask, don't tell
" should he become president. Answering a question from talk radio host Bryan Fischer
, he replied, "... I have been a public supporter of maintaining Don't Ask, Don't Tell and I would support reinstating it as well".
In December 2010, Pawlenty was one of three U.S. governors who publicly declared solidarity with Christian-right group Family Research Council
.
Pawlenty's tour has been in Minneapolis, San Francisco and Dallas, and it ends January in Iowa where the Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for February 6, 2012. "That will come up fast," he said, "if I do run." In Minneapolis, speaking to Pat Kessler of WCCO-TV
who asked about his feelings regarding a potential run for president by Representative
Michele Bachmann
, "I have a lot of respect for Michele Bachmann … Whether she runs or not, it's gonna be a big field. There's gonna be five, six, seven, eight people running … Whoever wants to run can run. The more, the merrier."
In a December 2010 column in The Wall Street Journal, Pawlenty argued in favor of the historical benefits of "private sector" labor unions and strongly against "public sector" labor unions, whose collective bargaining rights he would like to see curbed: "The rise of the labor movement in the early 20th century was a triumph for America's working class. In an era of deep economic anxiety, unions stood up for hard-working but vulnerable families, protecting them from physical and economic exploitation." He also criticized modern unions: "The moral case for unions—protecting working families from exploitation—does not apply to public employment... Unionized public employees are making more money, receiving more generous benefits, and enjoying greater job security than the working families forced to pay for it with ever-higher taxes, deficits and debt."
, that he had formed an exploratory committee
in preparation for a potential run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
On April 12, 2011, Pawlenty said clearly on CNN
's Piers Morgan Tonight
that he was "running for President" and not for Vice President, adding that a formal announcement would be given in several weeks. On Twitter
, his spokesman said CNN took his comments out of context.
On May 23, 2011, Pawlenty launched his candidacy for President in a speech in Iowa stating: "I'm going to try something a little unusual in politics. I'm just going to tell the truth." A YouTube
video appeared a day before. The Wall Street Journal
wrote of his candidacy, and the luck he experienced in the GOP's field, that Pawlenty has a "golden chance to become the chief rival to... Mitt Romney
".
on August 13, 2011, behind the winner Michele Bachmann
and the runner-up Ron Paul
. The following day he announced his decision to withdraw from the presidential race.
of Massachusetts, as well as his position as national co-chair for Romney's campaign.
In 1994, Pawlenty's wife Mary was appointed as a judge of the Dakota County
District Court in Hastings, Minnesota
and the two began raising their two daughters, Anna and Mara. After he was elected in 2002, the family remained at their Eagan home instead of moving into the Governor's Residence because of Mary's requirement to stay in her judicial district. In 2007, she left her judicial position to become General Counsel of the National Arbitration Forum
, a dispute resolution company based in Minneapolis. She stayed on only briefly before departing for another dispute resolution company, the Gilbert Mediation Center.
Pawlenty was raised a Roman Catholic
. His conversion to an Evangelical Protestant faith has been attributed to his wife Mary, who is a member of Wooddale Church
in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
, a member congregation of the Minnesota Baptist
Conference. Its senior pastor, Leith Anderson
, is the president of the National Association of Evangelicals
. In a January 2011 interview, Mr. Pawlenty stated that "I love and respect and admire the Catholic Church. I still attend Mass once in a while there. The church I now attend is an interdenominational church which has got many former Catholics in it, and so we share the Christian faith and the Bible. I had to reconcile my faith life with my wife so we could have a consistent, integrated family faith life."
. With regard to his economic record, he has drawn mixed reviews from fiscally conservative
interest groups. The lobbying group Taxpayers League of Minnesota
gave Pawlenty an average approval score of 80% during his years as a state legislator, while the Cato Institute
think tank gave him scores ranging from C to A across his eight years as governor. In February 2008, Washington Post
columnist Robert Novak
wrote that Pawlenty was the most conservative Minnesota governor since Governor Theodore Christianson
in the 1920s. A 2011 white paper
by the Club for Growth
, analyzing Pawlenty as a presidential candidate, found his political stance difficult to identify. The group praised him for reduced growth in spending and taxation, but found that he "has some simply inexcusable tax hikes in his record" and questioned his support of proposals such as "mandatory vegetable oil in gasoline, cap and trade, and a statewide smoking ban." Chris Edwards, a director at Cato, speculated that Pawlenty's rightward
tack in his second term was related to his impending presidential run.
Among registered Republicans nationwide in July 2009, 38% had a favorable view of him while 33% didn't according to a Rasmussen Reports
survey.
In March 2010 42% of Minnesotans approved of Pawlenty, while 52% disapproved.
In October 2010 a Rasmussen report showed that Pawlenty had a 49% approval rating among Minnesotans with 49% disapproving.
A March 2011 survey by Gallup
stated that Pawlenty began his Presidential run with only 41% name recognition in the GOP.
Also in March 2011, the Public Policy Polling
(PPP) agency found that nationwide voters had a net negative view of Pawlenty, with 15% viewing him favorably verses 33% unfavorably.
In the June 2011 results of a survey of registered Minnesota voters conducted from May 27-30, 42% of Minnesotans had a favorable opinion of Pawlenty, while 52% had an unfavorable opinion of him. In the 2012 presidential race polling, the results show President Obama leading Pawlenty by 51% to 43%, suggesting Pawlenty would lose his home state to President Obama were he the 2012 GOP nominee.
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Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
(2003–2011). He was a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate for President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in the 2012 election
United States presidential election, 2012
The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United...
from May to August 2011. He previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives
Minnesota House of Representatives
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house in the Minnesota State Legislature. There are 134 members elected to two-year terms, twice the number of members in the Minnesota Senate. Each senate district is divided in half and given the suffix A or B...
(1993–2003) where he served two terms as majority leader
Minnesota House Majority Leader
This is a list of Majority Leaders of the Minnesota House of Representatives- Notes on Minnesota political party names :*Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party: On April 15, 1944 the state Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party merged and created the Minnesota...
.
Pawlenty was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
and raised in nearby South St. Paul
South St. Paul, Minnesota
South St. Paul is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, immediately south and southeast of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is also southeast of West St. Paul, Minnesota. The population was 20,160 at the 2010 census. It is notable as one of the historic major meat packing cities in the United...
. He graduated from University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
and earned a J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the University of Minnesota Law School
University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, is a professional school of the University of Minnesota. The school offers a Juris Doctor , Masters of Law for Foreign Lawyers, and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A., J.D./M.P.A, J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D.,...
. His early career included working as a labor law attorney and the vice president of a software company. After settling in the city of Eagan
Eagan, Minnesota
Eagan is a city south of Saint Paul in Dakota County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies on the south bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi River. Eagan and nearby suburbs form the southern portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the fifteenth largest...
with his wife, Pawlenty was appointed to the city's Planning Commission and was elected to the Eagan City Council at the age of 28. He won a seat as a state representative in 1992, representing District 38B in suburban Dakota County
Dakota County, Minnesota
Dakota County is the third most populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is bordered by the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers on the north, and the state of Wisconsin on the east. Dakota County comprises the southeast portion of seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul, the thirteenth...
. He was re-elected four times, and voted majority leader by House Republicans in 1998.
After winning a narrow Republican primary in 2002, Pawlenty won a three-way election for Governor of Minnesota, and he was re-elected in 2006 by a margin of one percent. His campaign platform focused on balancing the budget without raising taxes. During Pawlenty's governorship, he eliminated his state's budget deficit using spending cuts and borrowing heavily from earmarked funds. Pawlenty did not raise income taxes during his governorship, but did enact targeted increases in sales tax and user fees. His administration advocated for numerous public works projects, including work on the Northstar Commuter Rail Line, and the construction of Target Field
Target Field
Target Field is a baseball park located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home ballpark of the Minnesota Twins, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It is the franchise's sixth ballpark and third in Minnesota. The Twins moved to Target Field for the 2010 Major League Baseball...
, a Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
stadium in Minneapolis. He signed a bill mandating 20% ethanol in gasoline by 2013. He cut health care spending to help balance the budget, and signed an executive order rejecting federal funds related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...
. He led worldwide trips for business leaders and trade delegations to explore trade opportunities. In the 2007–2008 term he served as chairman of the National Governors Association
National Governors Association
The National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is funded primarily by state dues, federal grants and contracts and private contributions. NGA represents the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association...
.
Pawlenty was rumored as a contender for president as early as 2005, and was closely involved with U.S. Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
's presidential campaign in 2008. Pawlenty began early steps toward a run in late 2009. He formally announced his presidential campaign
Tim Pawlenty presidential campaign, 2012
Former Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota began a movement for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for President of the United States shortly after the 2010 midterm elections....
in May 2011, running on a strongly conservative platform. A day after coming in third place in the August 13, 2011 Ames Straw Poll
Ames Straw Poll
The Ames Straw Poll is a presidential straw poll taken by Iowa Republicans. It occurs in Ames, Iowa on the campus of Iowa State University, on a Saturday in August of years in an election cycle in which the Republican presidential nomination seems to be undecided...
, Governor Pawlenty announced that he was withdrawing from the race. On September 12, 2011, Pawlenty announced his endorsement of former Governor Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
of Massachusetts.
Early life, education, and early career
Pawlenty was born in Saint Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, the son of Virginia Frances (née Oldenburg) and Eugene Joseph Pawlenty, who drove a milk truck. Pawlenty's father was Polish American
Polish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
and his mother was German American
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
. His mother died of cancer when he was 16. Pawlenty grew up in nearby South St. Paul, where he played ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
on his high school's junior varsity squad, the South Saint Paul Packers.
Originally planning to become a dentist
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
, Pawlenty enrolled in the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, becoming the only one of his siblings to attend college. During the summers of 1980 and 1982, he worked as an intern at the office of U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
David Durenberger
David Durenberger
David Ferdinand Durenberger is an American politician and a former Republican member of the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.- Early life :...
. In 1983, he graduated with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the University of Minnesota Law School
University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, is a professional school of the University of Minnesota. The school offers a Juris Doctor , Masters of Law for Foreign Lawyers, and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A., J.D./M.P.A, J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D.,...
in 1986. While in law school, he met his future wife, Mary Anderson
Mary Pawlenty
Mary Elizabeth Anderson Pawlenty is a former American state court judge who served on Minnesota's First Judicial District from 1994 to 2007. The wife of Governor Tim Pawlenty, she was First Lady of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011...
. They married in 1987.
Pawlenty first worked as a labor law
United States labor law
United States labor law is a heterogeneous collection of state and federal laws. Federal law not only sets the standards that govern workers' rights to organize in the private sector, but also overrides most state and local laws that attempt to regulate this area. Federal law also provides more...
attorney at the firm Rider Bennett
Rider Bennett
Rider Bennett, LLP was a 47-year-old, Minneapolis-based law firm that closed in May 2007. It was founded by Stu Rider, Gene Bennett and Bill Egan, all three of whom had attended the University of Minnesota Law School together. They were later joined by Chet Johnson and Ed Arundel...
(later Rider, Bennett, Egan & Arundel), where he had interned during law school. Later, he became vice president of a software
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
company, Wizmo Inc.
Now settled in Eagan, Minnesota
Eagan, Minnesota
Eagan is a city south of Saint Paul in Dakota County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies on the south bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi River. Eagan and nearby suburbs form the southern portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the fifteenth largest...
, a suburb of Minneapolis – Saint Paul, Pawlenty was appointed to the city's Planning Commission by then Mayor Vic Ellison. A year later, at the age of 28, he was elected to a term on the City Council.
Pawlenty got his start in state politics in 1990 as a campaign advisor for Jon Grunseth
Jon Grunseth
Jon Grunseth was a Minnesota businessman and politician and the 1990 Independent-Republican nominee for Governor of Minnesota. Grunseth won his party's endorsement and won its primary election, but was forced to quit the race nine days before election day in the wake of a scandal.Grunseth, the...
's losing bid for Minnesota governor. After Pawlenty himself became governor, he appointed Grunseth's former wife, Vicky Tigwell, to the board of the Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport, which became an ethics and accountability issue in 2003.
Minnesota House of Representatives
Pawlenty was elected to the Minnesota House of RepresentativesMinnesota House of Representatives
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house in the Minnesota State Legislature. There are 134 members elected to two-year terms, twice the number of members in the Minnesota Senate. Each senate district is divided in half and given the suffix A or B...
in 1992, winning 49.1 percent of the vote in District 38B (suburban Dakota County
Dakota County, Minnesota
Dakota County is the third most populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is bordered by the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers on the north, and the state of Wisconsin on the east. Dakota County comprises the southeast portion of seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul, the thirteenth...
). In the House he authored bills instituting term limits for committee chairmen, funding for infant parenting classes, minimum sentences for repeat domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
offenders, and community notification for sex offenders. In response to a state budget surplus he advocated for a tax reduction rather than expanded education funding. He was reelected four times and was chosen House Majority Leader when the Republicans became the majority party in the State Legislature in 1998.
Election, 2002
In 2002, Pawlenty wanted to run for governor, but party leaders made it clear that they favored businessman Brian SullivanRepublican National Committee members
This is a list of the voting members of the Republican National Committee as of August, 2009. The state chair, national committeeman and national committeewoman each receive one vote at RNC meetings and votes for RNC Chairmanship.-Table:...
for that office. Pawlenty shifted his sights to the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
but he abandoned those plans when Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
asked him to step aside to allow former St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman
Norm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...
to challenge Senator Paul Wellstone
Paul Wellstone
Paul David Wellstone was a two-term U.S. Senator from the state of Minnesota and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. Before being elected to the Senate in 1990, he was a professor of political science at Carleton College...
without Republican primary opposition. Pawlenty reasserted his original gubernatorial ambition and won a hard-fought and very narrow victory over Sullivan in the Republican party primary election.
In the general election, Pawlenty faced two strong opponents. His main rival was veteran Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) state senator Roger Moe
Roger Moe
Roger Moe is an American politician and a former member and majority leader of the Minnesota Senate. He was also the state Democratic Party's endorsed candidate for governor in 2002.-Education and early career:...
. Former Democratic Congressman Tim Penny
Tim Penny
Timothy Joe "Tim" Penny , is an American politician from Minnesota. Penny was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member of the United States House of Representatives, 1983–1995, representing Minnesota's 1st congressional district in the 98th, 99th, 100th, 101st, 102nd and 103rd congresses.-Early life:Penny...
ran on the Independence Party ticket. Up until mid-October 2002, the three were essentially tied in the polls. Pawlenty's major campaign stances included: a pledge not to raise tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es to balance the state's budget deficit (while allowing for increases in license and user fees); that visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
expiration dates be required to be printed on driver's license
Driver's license
A driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...
s; that women seeking an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
be required to wait at least 24 hours; enactment of a concealed carry gun law; and reform of the state's education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
requirements. Pawlenty won the election with 43.8 percent of the vote. His largest gains after the October three-way tie were reportedly among voters in the suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Reelection, 2006
Governor Pawlenty ran for re-election in 2006. He espoused conservative stands on issues. But conservatives criticized him on funding issues, in particular two pieces of legislation for stadiums for the GophersMinnesota Golden Gophers football
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as...
and Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
, and bond issues for public transit, including the Northstar commuter rail line.
The 2006 gubernatorial race included Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch
Mike Hatch
Michael Allen Hatch is an American politician, and was Attorney General of Minnesota from 1999 to 2007. In 2006, he was the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nominee for governor of Minnesota...
, of the DFL
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
, Peter Hutchinson
Peter Hutchinson
Peter Hutchinson is an American politician, businessman and philanthropy executive from the U.S. state of Minnesota. He ran as the Independence Party of Minnesota candidate for Governor of Minnesota in 2006....
of the Independence Party
Independence Party of Minnesota
The Independence Party of Minnesota , formerly the Reform Party of Minnesota, is the third largest political party in Minnesota, behind the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Republican Party . It is the political party of former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura , and endorsed former U.S...
, and Ken Pentel
Ken Pentel
Ken Pentel is an American politician, and a candidate for Governor of Minnesota for the Ecology Democracy Party. Pentel was the gubernatorial candidate for the Green party three previous times, in 1998, 2002, and 2006.-Biography:...
of the Green Party
Green Party of Minnesota
The Green Party of Minnesota is the fourth largest political party in Minnesota and was founded in 1994 on the Four Pillars of the Green Party: Ecological Wisdom, Social and Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, and Nonviolence and Peace...
. Pawlenty won, defeating Hatch by a margin of less than one percent, though both the state House and Senate gained DFL majority.
State budget
Pawlenty was elected in 2002 on a platform of balancing the state's budget without raising taxes. He emphasized his campaign and first term with the Taxpayers League of MinnesotaTaxpayers League of Minnesota
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota is a fiscally conservative lobbying group dedicated to lowering taxes and increasing government accountability in Minnesota. Phil Krinkie, a former state legislator, has been the group's president since February 2007. Prior to that, David Strom served as President...
slogan "no new taxes." His governorship was characterized by a historically low rate of spending growth. According to the Minnesota Management and Budget Department, general-fund expenditures from 2004 to 2011 increased an average of 3.5 percent per two-year term, compared to an average of 21.1 percent from 1960 to 2003 (these numbers, however, are not inflation-adjusted). University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
political science professor Larry Jacobs said that slowing down state spending and opposing tax increases were the "signature issue" of Pawlenty's governorship.
In his first year as governor, Pawlenty inherited a projected two-year budget deficit of $4.3 billion, the largest in Minnesota's history. After a contentious budget session with a Democrat-controlled Senate
Minnesota Senate
The Minnesota Senate is the upper house in the Minnesota Legislature. There are 67 members, half as many as are in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In terms of membership, it is the largest upper house of any state legislature. Each Senate district in the state includes an A and B House...
, he signed a package of fee increases, spending reductions, and government reorganization which eliminated the deficit. The budget reduced the rate of funding increases for state services, including transportation, social services, and welfare. It also enacted a perennial proposal to restructure city aid based on immediate need, rather than historical factors. In negotiations the governor agreed to several compromises, abandoning a desired public employee wage freeze and property tax restrictions.
During his second term, Pawlenty erased a $2.7 billion deficit by cutting spending, shifting payments, and using one-time federal stimulus money His final budget (2010–2011) was the state's first two-year period since 1960 in which net government expenditures decreased. Pawlenty has claimed this as "the first time in 150 years" that spending has been cut, but fact-checkers have disputed this claim as no public budget records prior to 1960 are known to exist.
Pawlenty has been criticized by some for providing a short-term budget solution but coming up short in his long-term strategy as Governor. The state department of Management and Budget reports that the two-year budget starting in July of 2011 is projected to come up $4.4 billion short. Former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson
Arne Carlson
Arne Helge Carlson, Sr. is an American politician and the 37th Governor of the state of Minnesota.-Early years, education and family:...
, a Republican
Republican Party of Minnesota
The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...
, criticized Pawlenty's budget strategy: he borrowed more than $1 billion from the tobacco settlement (money set aside for heath care), borrowed more than $1.4 billion from K-12 education funding, borrowed more than $400 [million] from the Health Care Access Fund for low-income families, among other short-term shifts in accounting. The result was a $5 billion deficit, the seventh largest in the United States. Minnesota property taxes rose $2.5 billion, more than the previous 16 years combined, and Moody's
Moody's
Moody's Corporation is the holding company for Moody's Analytics and Moody's Investors Service, a credit rating agency which performs international financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities. The company also ranks the credit-worthiness of borrowers using a standardized...
lowered the state's bond rating. Carlson told Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, "I don't think any governor has left behind a worse financial mess than he [Pawlenty] has." Pawlenty responded "My friend governor Arne Carlson is, of course, now an Obama and John Kerry supporter".
Minnesota Supreme Court case
Minnesota Supreme Court
The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota and consists of seven members. The court was first assembled as a three-judge panel in 1849 when Minnesota was still a territory. The first members were lawyers from outside of the region who were appointed by...
ultimately decided against him, voting 4 to 3 in a decision in May 2010. His budget had been the subject of a lawsuit in Ramsey County District Court, which was decided against him. Judge Kathleen Gearin decided Pawlenty exceeded his constitutional authority in making unilateral spending cuts to a $5.3 million special dietary program that he had unalloted. Attorney David Lillehaug said initially, "This is, I don't think it's understating this to say, this is one of the most important court cases in Minnesota legal history." Pawlenty announced the following day that he would appeal; he filed his defense in February, and arguments were heard on March 15. In May, the Supreme Court affirmed Judge Gearin, deciding that "Because the legislative and executive branches never enacted a balanced budget for the 2010–2011 biennium, use of the unallotment power to address the unresolved deficit exceeded the authority granted to the executive branch by the statute". Pawlenty responded:
I will fight to reduce spending and taxes in Minnesota and that battle continues. My commitment to the people of Minnesota remains the same: we will balance the budget without raising taxes.
After the court ruling, as the 2010 legislative session drew to a close, Pawlenty vetoed a budget which would fix a $2.9 billion deficit by adding a new tax bracket for six-figure incomes. In response to the proposal, he criticized Democrats for attempting to raise taxes in the midst of an extremely difficult economic situation. Eventually, due in part to the efforts of House Speaker Margaret Kelliher, who was running for the 2010 Democratic nomination for governor of Minnesota, the General Assembly passed legislation approving nearly all the original unallotments.
Funding projects
Since the Minnesota ConstitutionMinnesota Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Minnesota, USA was initially approved by the residents of Minnesota Territory in a special election held on October 13, 1857, and was ratified by the United States Senate on May 11, 1858, marking the admittance of Minnesota to the Union...
prohibits state-run gambling outside of Native territory, Pawlenty proposed negotiating with Minnesota's 11 tribes over profit sharing of their casinos. Legislators also pushed a proposal to turn Canterbury Park
Canterbury Park
Canterbury Park is a horse racing track located in Shakopee, Minnesota, USA.It runs a meet that consists of 62 racing days from early May to Labor Day, generally holding scheduled races Thursday through Sunday, with racing added on several holidays throughout the meet. The track itself features a...
horse track into a racino
Racino
A racino is a combined race track and casino. In some cases, the gambling is limited to slot machines, but many locations are beginning to include table games such as blackjack, poker, and roulette....
. The plan was poorly received by Northern Tribes who would operate part of the racino, citing reluctance to compete with other tribes. Tribes with casinos opposed the expanded gambling and some legislators objected on moral grounds that the state shouldn't exploit problem gamblers. Politicians in heavy tribal areas feared losing campaign-finance sources if they supported the plan.
Delays by the Legislature ended with the bill being pulled from committee.
Tribes had spent millions lobbying legislatures in 2004.
Pawlenty worked throughout 2006 to fund a Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
baseball stadium
Target Field
Target Field is a baseball park located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home ballpark of the Minnesota Twins, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It is the franchise's sixth ballpark and third in Minnesota. The Twins moved to Target Field for the 2010 Major League Baseball...
in Minneapolis. The resulting Minnesota Twins-Hennepin County ballpark bill called for an increased county sales tax which passed the state legislature and was symbolically signed in at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, commonly called the Metrodome, is a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Opened in 1982, it replaced Metropolitan Stadium, which was on the current site of the Mall of America in Bloomington and Memorial Stadium on the University...
. The majority of Hennepin County commissioners did not feel a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
was necessary to approve the sales tax because of the delay it would cause. Pawlenty and the Legislature agreed, citing 10 years already of the project's debate and exempted the county from state law requiring one in the bill.
In June 2006, Pawlenty signed a $999.9 million public works bill that included funding for additional work on the Northstar Commuter rail line
Northstar Corridor
The Northstar Line is a commuter rail route in the U.S. state of Minnesota, which began service on November 16, 2009. The rail line serves part of the Northstar Corridor between Minneapolis and St. Cloud, and has been in planning since the Northstar Corridor Development Authority formed in 1997...
(a change in position from reservations about the idea he initially expressed), an expanded Faribault
Faribault, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,818 people, 7,472 households, and 4,946 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,644.8 people per square mile . There were 7,668 housing units at an average density of 605.8 per square mile...
prison, a bioscience building at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, and science facilities at Minnesota State University
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Minnesota State University, Mankato is a public four-year university located in Mankato, Minnesota, a community of 53,000 located southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul. As of Fall 2011, the student body is the third-largest in the state of Minnesota with over 15,000 students...
in Mankato. The bill also funded a $26 million expansion of the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management
Carlson School of Management
The school offers a bachelor's, MBA, and doctoral degrees, as well as executive education programs hosted domestically and abroad . Dual-degree programs include a JD/MBA, MD/MBA, MHA/MBA, and a MPP/MBA...
.
In 2011, Pawlenty shut down an Islamic finance program, that was part of a larger program to increase home ownership in Minnesota, and his spokesperson said that the program accommodated the Muslim ban on interest
Riba
Riba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...
. Adam Sorensen from TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
questioned whether this was a case of double standards, pointing out New York's kosher food regulations, Blue Laws
Blue Laws
The Blue Laws of the Colony of Connecticut, as distinct from the generic term "blue law" that refers to any laws regulating activities on Sunday, were the initial statutes set up by the Gov. Theophilus Eaton with the assistance of the Rev. John Cotton in 1655 for the Colony of New Haven, now part...
that prohibit alcohol sales on Sundays, and Pawlenty's own creation of "The Governor's Council On Faith-Based And Community Initiatives".
Education
In the budget process, Pawlenty made an effort to preserve education funding while cutting other government spending. In 2009 he bolstered education funding using federal stimulus grants. Despite this, education funding fell from $9,700 to $8,400 per student (adjusted for inflation) during his tenure. Pawlenty was an advocate for charter schools and was praised by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools for his education policies. In 2010 the organization rated Minnesota #1 in the country for charter school promotion.Pawlenty oversaw the repeal of the Profile of Learning Kindergarten through 12th grade
K-12
K–12 is a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education. It is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand where P–12 is also commonly used...
graduation requirements and sought to reinstate them during his governorship. Renamed the Minnesota Academic Standards, they were guided by Department of Education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke. The bill's first draft raised several concerns by the education review boards including the amount of content, age-appropriateness, and a Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an-centric view of the social sciences portion. Yecke revised and expanded material based on the response. Even as both Legislative houses passed the Academic Standards bill, her confirmation as commissioner was rejected by the DFL majority Minnesota Senate. She was seen as an outsider coming from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and became unpopular having pushed the academic reforms during a tight budget session as well as her critical look of Minnesota schools. In her confirmation hearing DFLers also noted concern over her conservative viewpoints.
In June 2006, Pawlenty proposed the ACHIEVE program for the top 25% of high school graduates. The program would pay for tuition for the first 2 years (4 years for selected fields such as science, technology, engineering and math) and would cost the state an estimated $112 million per 2-year cycle. However the program was not included in the 2007 higher education bill.
Pawlenty used an accounting change called a tax shift to balance the state deficit without raising taxes. School districts statewide may unexpectedly lose $58 million in interest and reserve revenue.
In 2010, Pawlenty vetoed a bill (HF 3164), which the legislature had passed 110 to 20, calling for Minnesota State Colleges & Universities (MnSCU) to revamp its credit transferring system within five years to fix "minimal loss of credits for transferring students" who had been losing between 10 and 30 percent of their credits. Pawlenty found it "unnecessary" because MnSCU was fixing their system already "through internal actions and policy changes".
Transportation
Carol Molnau
Carol Molnau was the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. She formerly served as head of the Minnesota Department of Transportation...
, as transportation commissioner, for which she was approved by the legislature in May 2004. Molnau attempted to reform the transportation department, (Mn/DOT), using concepts such as "design-build
Design-Build
Design-build is a project delivery system used in the construction industry. It is a method to deliver a project in which the design and construction services are contracted by a single entity known as the design–builder or design–build contractor...
". Legislators criticized Molnau's performance as transportation commissioner, citing ineffective leadership and management, and removed her from that role in February 2008, a decision Pawlenty said was motivated by partisanship.
Pawlenty favored raising fees and imposing toll lanes on roads as the primary means of discouraging excessive traffic. During his term, the carpool lanes of Interstate 394
Interstate 394
Interstate 394 is an east–west Interstate Highway spur route in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It runs for 9.8 miles from its eastern terminus in downtown Minneapolis to its western terminus at its junction with Interstate 494 in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka...
leading into downtown Minneapolis were converted into high-occupancy toll lanes. Pawlenty used or threatened vetoes in 2005, 2007 and 2008 on legislation funding proposed highway expansion, infrastructure repairs, road maintenance, and mass transit. The 2008 veto was in spite of Pawlenty's announcement that he would consider reversing his opposition to a state gas tax increase for funding road and bridge repairs, in the wake of the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge.
Pawlenty had opposed the Northstar Commuter Rail as a legislator but changed his position in 2004, announcing a funding plan to jump start the project, when the Bush administration determined the rail line was deemed cost-effective and time-saving for commuters.
In April 2008 during the budget bonding bill signing, Pawlenty used his line-item veto on $70 million pledged toward the building of the Central Corridor
Central Corridor (Minnesota)
The Central Corridor is a light rail line under construction that is to cover the stretch between the downtown regions of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota...
light-rail project, intended to connect Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In vetoing the expenditure, Pawlenty did not consult Peter Bell, head of the Metro Council
Metropolitan Council
The Metropolitan Council or Met Council is the regional governmental agency and metropolitan planning organization in Minnesota serving the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area. The Met Council is granted regional authority powers in state statutes by the Minnesota Legislature. These powers...
and project leader. Pawlenty stated that he vetoed the bill in order to send a message to the Legislature, which had exceeded his initial budget request, that they needed to "stay focused, be fiscally disciplined, set priorities and solve this budget crisis in a fiscally disciplined way." Pawlenty however was supportive of the project and had requested the money in the bonding bill he submitted to the Minnesota State Legislature. The veto disappointed some of Minnesota's congressional representatives in Washington, including Minnesota's Republican Senator Norm Coleman
Norm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...
, who pledged to "raise my voice as strong as I can, as loud as I can. The federal commitment is there."
Though Pawlenty's veto might have delayed the ability of the state to receive federal matching funds for the project, Bell said the project was not derailed. The Central Corridor funding issue was resolved on May 19, 2008 with the state pledging its original amount towards the project after legislators compromised with Pawlenty's budget requests.
There were Republican state legislators who supported other cuts of the bonding bill, including Doug Magnus, the ranking Republican on the House Transportation Finance Division, who praised Pawlenty's "fiscal responsibility." Critics, including Chris Coleman
Chris Coleman (politician)
Christopher "Chris" B. Coleman is a Minnesota politician and the mayor of St. Paul. He defeated incumbent mayor Randy Kelly in 2005 and took office on January 3, 2006.- Family and early career :...
, Mayor of Saint Paul, called Pawlenty's veto "political gamesmanship," seeing the move as retribution for the Legislature's successful override of Pawlenty's veto of a transportation bonding bill. They noted cuts overwhelmingly targeted Democratic districts, and Democratic stronghold Saint Paul most heavily.
Crime
Crime in Minnesota was a high-profile political issue during Pawlenty's governorship. When crime rates in Minneapolis spiked 16 percent from 2004 to 2005, city officials blamed Pawlenty for large cuts to state aid, which they said restricted public safety resources. Pawlenty in turn criticized the capital city for poorly allocating its funding.Pawlenty made two large efforts to expand penalties for sexual offenders. In response to his first proposal in 2005, the state legislature passed a large package of sentencing reforms. One new instrument was the possibility of a life sentence without parole for serious offenders, although Pawlenty expressed disapproval at the courts' reluctance to use this option: only seven individuals received such a sentence in the first two years of implementation. Pawlenty made a push for even harsher sentences in 2010, which increased the presumptive sentence for first-degree sex offenses from 12 years to 25 years and increased it further for repeat offenders. At the same time he advocated for a $90 million expansion of the state's civil commitment program for sexual offenders, maintaining that the increased criminal sentences would keep the commitment program's cost under control. According to a single report in the Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
, "A report on Minnesota's sex-offender program delivered to legislators in the final days of the Pawlenty administration was heavily edited by a top political appointee to reflect the former governor's skepticism about the effectiveness of treatment and to delete arguments for expanded community resources for offenders."
Early in 2006, after issuing a study that estimated the cost of illegal immigration to the state
Illegal immigration to the United States
An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
as approximately $188 million, Pawlenty announced a program for changing the way the state dealt with persons who were in the United States illegally. Pawlenty said that the economic benefits of illegal immigration did not justify the illegal behavior. Pawlenty's extensive proposal included the designation of 10 state law enforcement officials as the Minnesota Illegal Immigration Enforcement Team, "trained to question, detain and arrest suspected illegal immigrants" with a focus on "such crimes as human trafficking, identity theft, methamphetamine distribution and terrorism." He rounded out his proposal with tougher penalties for false identification, and instituting a fine of up to $5,000 for employers of illegal immigrants. His proposal was challenged by DFL senators who preferred increased legal immigration to punitive action.
Ethanol
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
and ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
(gasohol) since 1997. Pawlenty signed into law in May 2005 a bill that will raise the minimum mandated mixture to 20% in 2013. Pawlenty has also lobbied the Governors' Ethanol Coalition to mandate higher ethanol use nationwide.
Conservative Republican governors were not supportive of Pawlenty's presentation on clean energy to the governor's association, which he gave in cooperation with Ed Rendell
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell is an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania. Rendell, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2002, and his term of office began January 21, 2003...
, who is the governor of Pennsylvania and the National Governors Association's Democratic vice-chairman. With Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician currently serving as the 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services. She was the second female Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address, and chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors...
of Kansas, Pawlenty is cochairman of the association's energy committee. The effort received "adamant opposition" from governors of petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
(oil) producing states.
Health
In 2004, Minnesota's Star TribuneStar Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
newspaper opined that the credibility of Pawlenty's commissioner of health, Dianne Mandernach, suffered when a website posting by the department suggested that abortion might have a role in breast cancer. She also angered many when it was learned she had delayed releasing government research on cancer in miners. In 2007, Mandernach resigned.
In 2005, Pawlenty asked a U.S. Senate subcommittee to allow his MinnesotaCare
MinnesotaCare
MinnesotaCare is a health coverage program in the U.S. state of Minnesota for low-income individuals and families who do not have access to employee-sponsored health insurance. It is administered by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Enrollees pay a monthly fee based on income and family...
health plan to expand and continue allowing state residents and employees to import cheaper Canadian prescription drugs.
In 2007, Pawlenty signed into law the 2007 Omnibus Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill, which provided funding for the Health Care Transformation Task Force, a panel of health care experts charged with exploring ways to reduce health care spending, improve quality, and ensure that Minnesota develops a universal health care plan by 2011.
He has recently used health care funding cuts as a mechanism to balance the state budget. After years of assuring doctors that the state sick tax would only be used to fund health welfare programs, in 2009 Pawlenty recommended a 3% cut in physician reimbursements from the state and asked that the sick tax be put instead into the state's general budget. Pawlenty used a line-item veto to remove $381 million from health and human services funding, which could lead to 35,000 Minnesotans losing their General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) health insurance in 2011. Hennepin County Medical Center
Hennepin County Medical Center
Hennepin County Medical Center is a Level I trauma center based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the county seat of Hennepin County. The primary 422-bed facility is located on five city blocks across the street from the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, with satellite clinics in Minneapolis, Brooklyn...
—the largest provider of health care to Minnesota's poor and uninsured—closed two clinics, reduced its staff and reduced access to non-emergency services. State Senator Linda Berglin
Linda Berglin
Linda Lee Berglin is a Minnesota politician and a former member of the Minnesota Senate who represented District 61, which includes portions of the city of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, which is in the Twin Cities metropolitan area...
wrote a bill that would extend GAMC funding, which the Senate is considering.
In 2010, he refused federal health care funds including more than $1 billion to expand the number of Minnesotans covered by Medicaid, $68 million for a high-risk insurance pool, $1 million to help set up an insurance exchange where consumers could shop for health coverage, and $850,000 for teenage pregnancy prevention. Pawlenty accepted a $500,000 abstinence-only sex education grant that will require $350,000 in matching state money. Pawlenty said, "It doesn't say we have to apply for all of them."
Foreign relations
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
. During his two terms Pawlenty made trips to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, and Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
visiting Minnesota troops.
Pawlenty was visited in 2004 by Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
President
President of Mexico
The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican former politician who served as President of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected...
in talks to strengthen trade. Fox announced that his country would open a consulate in Minnesota the next year, removing the need for Mexican residents in the state to travel out of state for identification papers and other materials. In mid-2006, in response to illegal immigration, he sent Minnesota National Guardsmen to the U.S.–Mexico border at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Pawlenty took a delegation of nearly 200 Minnesotan business, government, academic and civic leaders on a weeklong trip to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in mid-November 2005. The stated objectives were to provide a forum for companies to acquire market information, assess market potential, evaluate market entry strategies and identify potential business partners, as well as to promote Chinese investment in Minnesota. Pawlenty also led Minnesota trade delegations to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 2003, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
in 2004, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 2007, and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 2008.
Other activities
WCCO-AM
WCCO is a radio station located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The station broadcasts on a clear-channel frequency and is owned by CBS Radio. The station's studios are located in downtown Minneapolis, while its transmitter is located in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.With 50,000 watts of power, WCCO's...
, a tradition he inherited from his predecessor as governor, Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura
James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
. Pawlenty was the chairman of the National Governors Association
National Governors Association
The National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is funded primarily by state dues, federal grants and contracts and private contributions. NGA represents the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association...
for the 2007–2008 term. He also served as Chair of the Midwestern Governors Association
Midwestern Governors Association
The Midwestern Governors Association is a 501 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings together the Midwestern governors of states to work cooperatively on public policy issues of significance to the region. The MGA was created in December 1962 in Chicago, when articles of organization were...
in 2006.
McCain presidential campaign, 2008
Beginning in 2005, Pawlenty was rumored in the press as a potential candidate for president of the United States. When formally announcing his candidacy for a second term as Governor of Minnesota on May 31, 2006, Pawlenty said, "As to my future, if I run for governor and win, I will serve out my term for four years as governor." On January 15, 2007, after being reelected, Pawlenty said, "I am committed to serving out my term as governor. That's what I am going to do."In 2007, it was announced that Pawlenty would be serving in a lead role for McCain as a national cochair of his presidential exploratory committee which led to Pawlenty becoming cochairman of McCain's campaign (along with Phil Gramm
Phil Gramm
William Philip "Phil" Gramm is an American economist and politician, who has served as a Democratic Congressman , a Republican Congressman and a Republican Senator from Texas...
and Tom Loeffler
Tom Loeffler
Thomas Gilbert Loeffler is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from central Texas. He was an advisor and fundraiser to the 2008 presidential campaign of U.S...
). In January 2008 a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune suggested Pawlenty's renewed focus on his proposed immigration reform plans might be politically motivated as counterbalance to McCain's less favorable guest worker program.
For many weeks, Pawlenty was widely considered to be a leading candidate for the vice-presidential nomination on the Republican ticket with John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
in the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. McCain surprisingly chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
.
In 2008 Pawlenty expressed support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). But in 2010 Pawlenty claimed that he had made those statements solely as a surrogate for presidential nominee McCain and never actually supported the idea himself.
Early steps
In February 2005, ABC NewsABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
identified him as a potential candidate for president. Pawlenty decided not to seek a third term as governor, and so was not a candidate in the November 2010 gubernatorial election
Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2010
The 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 to elect the 40th Governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota for a four-year term to begin in January 2011. The general election was contested by the major party candidates State Representative Tom Emmer , former Senator...
. In July 2009, Public Policy Polling conducted a poll that showed that President Obama was favored to win against Pawlenty in his home state of Minnesota by more than 10 points. In October 2009, a CNN article suggested that Pawlenty was contemplating a 2012 White House bid. Among those advising him in preparation for a potential presidential run is lobbyist and former Congressman Vin Weber
Vin Weber
John Vincent Weber is a former Republican Congressman from Minnesota. Weber attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities from 1970 to 1974. He had been the co-publisher of Murray County newspaper and the president of Weber Publishing Company...
.
In late 2009, Pawlenty began taking steps that many saw as leading to a 2012 presidential bid. He visited Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
in November 2009 and April 2010, making political speeches. In January 2011, the New York Times reported that "Few Americans, in fact, even know his name." In January 2011, Pawlenty told the College Republicans
College Republicans
The College Republican National Committee is a national organization for college and university students who support the Republican Party of the United States...
group at The George Washington University "If I decide to run it would be for president, not vice president."
Book tour and political positions
Pawlenty went on tour for his book Courage to Stand, and as of January 18, his book had reached #1,979 on Amazon.com's list of bestsellers. Pawlenty calls himself a social conservativeSocial conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
. In his extended interview with Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
on The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
, he said he thinks United States Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
and Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
need to be cut to balance the federal budget. Pawlenty believes that state governments should outlaw abortion, except for cases of rape, incest, and to save a woman's life. He thinks the United States Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
wrongly, abortion being a state, not a federal, matter. He opposes same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
and civil unions. He would like to reinstate "Don't ask, don't tell
Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
" should he become president. Answering a question from talk radio host Bryan Fischer
Bryan Fischer
Bryan Fischer is the Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association . He hosts the talk radio program Focal Point on American Family Radio and posts on the AFA-run blog Rightly Concerned....
, he replied, "... I have been a public supporter of maintaining Don't Ask, Don't Tell and I would support reinstating it as well".
In December 2010, Pawlenty was one of three U.S. governors who publicly declared solidarity with Christian-right group Family Research Council
Family Research Council
The Family Research Council is a conservative or right-wing Christian group and lobbying organization formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson. It was fully incorporated in 1983...
.
Pawlenty's tour has been in Minneapolis, San Francisco and Dallas, and it ends January in Iowa where the Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for February 6, 2012. "That will come up fast," he said, "if I do run." In Minneapolis, speaking to Pat Kessler of WCCO-TV
WCCO-TV
WCCO-TV, is the CBS owned and operated television station that serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. Its transmitter is at the Telefarm complex in Shoreview, Minnesota.- History :...
who asked about his feelings regarding a potential run for president by Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Michele Bachmann
Michele Bachmann
Michele Marie Bachmann is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing , a post she has held since 2007. The district includes several of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Woodbury, and Blaine as well as Stillwater and St. Cloud.She is currently a...
, "I have a lot of respect for Michele Bachmann … Whether she runs or not, it's gonna be a big field. There's gonna be five, six, seven, eight people running … Whoever wants to run can run. The more, the merrier."
In a December 2010 column in The Wall Street Journal, Pawlenty argued in favor of the historical benefits of "private sector" labor unions and strongly against "public sector" labor unions, whose collective bargaining rights he would like to see curbed: "The rise of the labor movement in the early 20th century was a triumph for America's working class. In an era of deep economic anxiety, unions stood up for hard-working but vulnerable families, protecting them from physical and economic exploitation." He also criticized modern unions: "The moral case for unions—protecting working families from exploitation—does not apply to public employment... Unionized public employees are making more money, receiving more generous benefits, and enjoying greater job security than the working families forced to pay for it with ever-higher taxes, deficits and debt."
Announcement
On March 21, 2011, Pawlenty announced, via FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, that he had formed an exploratory committee
Exploratory Committee
In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to United States Presidential hopefuls, prior to the primaries.Exploratory...
in preparation for a potential run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
On April 12, 2011, Pawlenty said clearly on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Piers Morgan Tonight
Piers Morgan Tonight
Piers Morgan Tonight is a talk show on CNN, hosted by Piers Morgan. The show premiered on January 17, 2011 and filled the former Larry King Live timeslot. The theme music is written by Anthony James, composer and CEO of British company Music Candy, and his writing partner Yiorgos Bellapaisiotis,...
that he was "running for President" and not for Vice President, adding that a formal announcement would be given in several weeks. On Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, his spokesman said CNN took his comments out of context.
On May 23, 2011, Pawlenty launched his candidacy for President in a speech in Iowa stating: "I'm going to try something a little unusual in politics. I'm just going to tell the truth." A YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video appeared a day before. The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
wrote of his candidacy, and the luck he experienced in the GOP's field, that Pawlenty has a "golden chance to become the chief rival to... Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
".
Ames Straw Poll and withdrawal
Pawlenty finished third in the Ames Straw PollAmes Straw Poll
The Ames Straw Poll is a presidential straw poll taken by Iowa Republicans. It occurs in Ames, Iowa on the campus of Iowa State University, on a Saturday in August of years in an election cycle in which the Republican presidential nomination seems to be undecided...
on August 13, 2011, behind the winner Michele Bachmann
Michele Bachmann
Michele Marie Bachmann is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing , a post she has held since 2007. The district includes several of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Woodbury, and Blaine as well as Stillwater and St. Cloud.She is currently a...
and the runner-up Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
. The following day he announced his decision to withdraw from the presidential race.
Endorsement of Mitt Romney
On September 12, 2011, Pawlenty announced his endorsement of former Governor Mitt RomneyMitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
of Massachusetts, as well as his position as national co-chair for Romney's campaign.
Personal life
Pawlenty frequently uses (and is referred to by) the mononym TPaw or T-Paw.In 1994, Pawlenty's wife Mary was appointed as a judge of the Dakota County
Dakota County, Minnesota
Dakota County is the third most populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is bordered by the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers on the north, and the state of Wisconsin on the east. Dakota County comprises the southeast portion of seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul, the thirteenth...
District Court in Hastings, Minnesota
Hastings, Minnesota
Hastings is a city in Dakota counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota, near the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. The population was 22,172 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dakota County. The bulk of Hastings is in Dakota County; only a small part of the city extends...
and the two began raising their two daughters, Anna and Mara. After he was elected in 2002, the family remained at their Eagan home instead of moving into the Governor's Residence because of Mary's requirement to stay in her judicial district. In 2007, she left her judicial position to become General Counsel of the National Arbitration Forum
National Arbitration Forum
The National Arbitration Forum , founded in 1986, provides arbitration and mediation services to businesses, based at its Minneapolis, Minnesota headquarters and offices in New Jersey. The company is one of the United States's largest and most controversial dispute resolution companies...
, a dispute resolution company based in Minneapolis. She stayed on only briefly before departing for another dispute resolution company, the Gilbert Mediation Center.
Pawlenty was raised a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. His conversion to an Evangelical Protestant faith has been attributed to his wife Mary, who is a member of Wooddale Church
Wooddale Church
Originally known as "The Wayside Chapel", Wooddale Church is a large evangelical Christian church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The large success of the Wooddale Church led to the formation of many other similar churches in Minnesota...
in Eden Prairie, Minnesota
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 54,901 people, 20,457 households, and 14,579 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 21,026 housing units at an average density of 649.2 per square mile...
, a member congregation of the Minnesota Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Conference. Its senior pastor, Leith Anderson
Leith Anderson
Leith Anderson is the President of the National Association of Evangelicals. He has served as senior pastor of Wooddale Church, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, since 1977.-Biography:...
, is the president of the National Association of Evangelicals
National Association of Evangelicals
The National Association of Evangelicals is a fellowship of member denominations, churches, organizations, and individuals. Its goal is to honor God by connecting and representing evangelicals in the United States. Today it works in four main areas: Church & Faith Partners, Government Relations,...
. In a January 2011 interview, Mr. Pawlenty stated that "I love and respect and admire the Catholic Church. I still attend Mass once in a while there. The church I now attend is an interdenominational church which has got many former Catholics in it, and so we share the Christian faith and the Bible. I had to reconcile my faith life with my wife so we could have a consistent, integrated family faith life."
Political views
Pawlenty is generally considered a conservative on the American political spectrumPolitical ideologies in the United States
Political ideologies in the United States vary considerably. Persons in the U.S. generally classify themselves either as adhering to positions along the political spectrum as liberal-progressive, moderate, or conservative. American liberalism aims at the preservation and extension of human, social...
. With regard to his economic record, he has drawn mixed reviews from fiscally conservative
Fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political term used to describe a fiscal policy that advocates avoiding deficit spending. Fiscal conservatives often consider reduction of overall government spending and national debt as well as ensuring balanced budget of paramount importance...
interest groups. The lobbying group Taxpayers League of Minnesota
Taxpayers League of Minnesota
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota is a fiscally conservative lobbying group dedicated to lowering taxes and increasing government accountability in Minnesota. Phil Krinkie, a former state legislator, has been the group's president since February 2007. Prior to that, David Strom served as President...
gave Pawlenty an average approval score of 80% during his years as a state legislator, while the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
think tank gave him scores ranging from C to A across his eight years as governor. In February 2008, Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
columnist Robert Novak
Robert Novak
Robert David Sanders "Bob" Novak was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and conservative political commentator. After working for two newspapers before serving for the U.S. Army in the Korean War, he became a reporter for the Associated Press and then for...
wrote that Pawlenty was the most conservative Minnesota governor since Governor Theodore Christianson
Theodore Christianson
Theodore Christianson was an American politician who served as the 21st Governor of Minnesota from January 6, 1925 until January 6, 1931.-Background:...
in the 1920s. A 2011 white paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
by the Club for Growth
Club for Growth
The Club for Growth is a politically conservative 527 organization active in the United States of America, with an agenda focussed on taxation and other economic issues, and with an affiliated political action committee . The Club advocates lower taxes, limited government, less government spending,...
, analyzing Pawlenty as a presidential candidate, found his political stance difficult to identify. The group praised him for reduced growth in spending and taxation, but found that he "has some simply inexcusable tax hikes in his record" and questioned his support of proposals such as "mandatory vegetable oil in gasoline, cap and trade, and a statewide smoking ban." Chris Edwards, a director at Cato, speculated that Pawlenty's rightward
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
tack in his second term was related to his impending presidential run.
Approval ratings
In April 2009, 46% of Minnesotans approved of Pawlenty, while 40% disapproved.Among registered Republicans nationwide in July 2009, 38% had a favorable view of him while 33% didn't according to a Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports
Rasmussen Reports is an American media company that publishes and distributes information based on public opinion polling. Founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen in 2003, the company updates daily indexes including the President's job approval rating, and provides public opinion data, analysis, and...
survey.
In March 2010 42% of Minnesotans approved of Pawlenty, while 52% disapproved.
In October 2010 a Rasmussen report showed that Pawlenty had a 49% approval rating among Minnesotans with 49% disapproving.
A March 2011 survey by Gallup
The Gallup Organization
The Gallup Organization, is primarily a research-based performance-management consulting company. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are - Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement and Well-Being. Gallup has over 40 offices in 27 countries. World headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Operational...
stated that Pawlenty began his Presidential run with only 41% name recognition in the GOP.
Also in March 2011, the Public Policy Polling
Public Policy Polling
Public Policy Polling is an American Democratic Party-affiliated polling firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina. PPP was founded in 2001 by businessman and Democratic pollster Dean Debnam, the firm's current president and chief executive officer...
(PPP) agency found that nationwide voters had a net negative view of Pawlenty, with 15% viewing him favorably verses 33% unfavorably.
In the June 2011 results of a survey of registered Minnesota voters conducted from May 27-30, 42% of Minnesotans had a favorable opinion of Pawlenty, while 52% had an unfavorable opinion of him. In the 2012 presidential race polling, the results show President Obama leading Pawlenty by 51% to 43%, suggesting Pawlenty would lose his home state to President Obama were he the 2012 GOP nominee.
Electoral history
| Year | Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
DFL | Constitution Constitution Party of Minnesota The Constitution Party of Minnesota is an affiliate party of the national Constitution Party. The party supports strict adherence to the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Minnesota Constitution... |
Total | Source | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Votes | % | Name | Votes | % | Name | Votes | % | |||
| 1992 | Tim Pawlenty | 9,610 | 49.1% | Linda Rother | 8,773 | 44.8% | James Russell McMahon | 253 | 1.3% | 19,583 | |
| 1994 | Tim Pawlenty | 12,172 | 81.0% | None | None | 15,022 | |||||
| 1996 | Tim Pawlenty | 14,747 | 74.4% | None | None | 19,822 | |||||
| 1998 | Tim Pawlenty | 9,118 | 48.5% | Leo Brisbois | 7,819 | 41.6% | None | 18,809 | |||
| 2000 | Tim Pawlenty | 13,779 | 59.6% | Gary Moore | 7,239 | 31.3% | None | 23,100 | |||
| Year | Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
DFL | Independence Independence Party of Minnesota The Independence Party of Minnesota , formerly the Reform Party of Minnesota, is the third largest political party in Minnesota, behind the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Republican Party . It is the political party of former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura , and endorsed former U.S... |
Green Green Party of Minnesota The Green Party of Minnesota is the fourth largest political party in Minnesota and was founded in 1994 on the Four Pillars of the Green Party: Ecological Wisdom, Social and Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, and Nonviolence and Peace... |
Total | Source | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Votes | % | Name | Votes | % | Name | Votes | % | Name | Votes | % | |||
| 2002 Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2002 The 2002 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2002 for the post of Governor of Minnesota. Republican candidate Tim Pawlenty defeated Democratic candidate Roger Moe and Independence Party of Minnesota candidate Tim Penny... |
Tim Pawlenty | 999,473 | 43.8% | Roger Moe Roger Moe Roger Moe is an American politician and a former member and majority leader of the Minnesota Senate. He was also the state Democratic Party's endorsed candidate for governor in 2002.-Education and early career:... |
821,268 | 36.0% | Tim Penny Tim Penny Timothy Joe "Tim" Penny , is an American politician from Minnesota. Penny was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member of the United States House of Representatives, 1983–1995, representing Minnesota's 1st congressional district in the 98th, 99th, 100th, 101st, 102nd and 103rd congresses.-Early life:Penny... |
364,534 | 16.0% | Ken Pentel Ken Pentel Ken Pentel is an American politician, and a candidate for Governor of Minnesota for the Ecology Democracy Party. Pentel was the gubernatorial candidate for the Green party three previous times, in 1998, 2002, and 2006.-Biography:... |
50,589 | 2.2% | 2,282,860 | |
| 2006 Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2006 The 2006 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Tim Pawlenty was endorsed by the state Republican convention on June 2, 2006, while the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor convention endorsed Mike Hatch on June 10, 2006... |
Tim Pawlenty | 1,028,568 | 46.4% | Mike Hatch Mike Hatch Michael Allen Hatch is an American politician, and was Attorney General of Minnesota from 1999 to 2007. In 2006, he was the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nominee for governor of Minnesota... |
1,007,460 | 45.4% | Peter Hutchinson Peter Hutchinson Peter Hutchinson is an American politician, businessman and philanthropy executive from the U.S. state of Minnesota. He ran as the Independence Party of Minnesota candidate for Governor of Minnesota in 2006.... |
141,735 | 6.4% | Ken Pentel Ken Pentel Ken Pentel is an American politician, and a candidate for Governor of Minnesota for the Ecology Democracy Party. Pentel was the gubernatorial candidate for the Green party three previous times, in 1998, 2002, and 2006.-Biography:... |
10,800 | 0.5% | 2,217,818 | |
Records
Tim Pawlenty's records are available for research use. They include legislative action logs and letters, State of the State addresses, daily schedules, subject files, resolution and chapter files, correspondence files, administrative rules files, executive orders, Governor's Office photographs, press releases, agency and board files, operations files, sound and video recordings, legal counsel files, and appointment files. Some digital content is included.External links
- Pawlenty 2012 official campaign site
- Campaign contributions at Follow the Money (U.S. House)
- Campaign 2002 – Minnesota Governor Minnesota Public Radio
- Campaign 2006 – Tim Pawlenty Minnesota Public Radio
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