IT’S NOT JUST OSTRICHS THAT PUT THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND

 

 

                Time and time again we’ve seen Governor Pawlenty push the envelop or skirt the law and, when caught in such a way that he can no longer prevaricate, hang his head like a cornered schoolboy and say he hadn’t known any better.  Consider just the few following examples.

 

 

 

The Governor receives $10,000 for serving on the board of directors of a holding company whose largest operating subsidiary draws regulatory sanctions in numerous states, but says he hadn’t been aware of the consumer fraud (even though everybody else knows the telecom industry regularly cheats consumers.)  (Click here to read more.)

 

The Governor’s campaign receives one of the largest fines in Minnesota history after illegally coordinating with the Republican Party to circumvent campaign spending laws.  (Click here to read more.)  Governor Pawlenty claims that his campaign and the party didn’t coordinate because they carried out the transaction through separate “consultants”—consultants who just happened to work for the same firm.

 

The Governor appoints his “good friend” to act as his campaign treasurer.  When allegations are raised that the treasurer has perpetrated mortgage fraud upon unsuspecting homeowners, the Governor says he has no knowledge of the treasurer’s business dealings, even though the man reportedly used the same address for both the Pawlenty campaign and his mortgage ventures.

 

The Governor appoints a fellow Republican house member and campaign supporter to serve as Commissioner of Public Safety, saying he wants someone who would be in “the middle of controversy.”  The Governor then claims he was unaware that the appointee had testified that it’s his own business if he chooses to use the “N” word in his home or with friends, even though this testimony had been widely reported for over ten years. (Click here to read more.)

 

The Governor appoints a former Federalist Society member to head the Labor Department, touting her as an expert in employment and labor law, then says he hadn’t bothered to check whether she purchased worker’s compensation insurance for her own employees (she hadn’t). (Click here to read more.)

 

The Governor’s schoolboy shtick may work on the playground, but it has no place on the Capitol grounds.

PawletyUnlugged

Facts about Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty

The Governor receives $4,500 per month from a telecom company run by a political supporter, but can’t remember what he did to earn the money or even where the company has its office.  A seasoned attorney, Governor Pawlenty says he was confused by the forms on which should have disclosed this income to the voters.  (Click here to read more.)