Pawlenty was a good Governor who shifted right for the primaries, but O'Malley's efficiency makes him a bit better.
Pawlenty is one of the best anti-establishment Republicans. He flip flopped for 2012, but he was efficient and I can easily understand admiration of him, just like I can understand admiration and support of people like Gingrich, Mitch Daniels, and Rand Paul.
What's wrong with this? Was Pawlenty a bad governor?
Oh yes, he was f[inks]ing horrid. Also he was not in any way shape or form "anti-establishment".
Lyin' Steve, BRTD is just a contrarian. Also, most Democrats on Atlas just think any Republican Governor is bad, and they know because it's their state.
I mean, Pawlenty beat pretty big name nominees by 7.9% and then by 1.0%. In 2010, the Republican only lost by about .4%. I really don't think the DFL state party is so awful that it couldn't defeat a terrible Governor in a state as Democratic as Minnesota.
No.. Pawlenty was awful. Minnesota severely underperformed the nation in job creation (job creation since 2010 has been much better than any time during the 2003-2007 economic expansion).
We had structural deficits and his refusal to raise taxes meant constant cuts to schools, infrastructure (Governor BridgeFail), and human services.
Property taxes went through the roof because he slashed local government aid, which really hurt poor, rural communities who still had to pay for police, fire, and roads.
He was Governor Gimmick... always finding "creative" ways to plug budget holes, much like Jindal in LA. Insisting that a hike in the cigarette tax was a "health impact fee" so he could technically not raise taxes... and then his whole attempt at covertly cutting funds from state agencies singlehandedly which was shot down by the courts.
Tim Pawlenty was the worst Minnesotan governor in modern history. Arne Carlson and Al Quie were far better Republican governors than him.
So save us your "BUT LOOK HE BEAT SO AND SO BY A WHOLE PERCENT" in races where he ran against two Democrats on the ticket.
He's a smarmy loser who did real damage to the state. And with Dayton in office, it has been reversed... and MN has the economic growth, job growth, and budget surplus to prove it.
