Marshall Independent editor Dana Yost in the Editors Blog on August 15 says,
“…I think Molnau should be stripped of her MnDOT commissioner role, keeping just the lieutenant governor position. This will remove any suspicion that politics or fiscal fear is getting in the way of a responsible response to the collapse. Molnau has said money wasn’t a consideration in the response to the 35W bridge, but that’s a fairly laughable contention since MnDOT and other state officials have all said they sought less-expensive responses to harsh inspection reports. She doesn’t have much credibility.”
Lieutenant Governor/Commissioner Molnau has garnered criticisim from both the DFL and GOP for what they perceive as an unwllingness to advocate for funding for the state’s transportation needs.
“I don’t think she has had any vision of transportation, and she did not advocate for the department, and I think that she should,” said Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, who has long supported a gas tax hike. Pioneer Press
Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, doesn’t believe she can continue to do her job. Star Tribune
Real leadership and unity are what we will need going forward and Yost’s blog says it all.
Read the blog here.
Peace & solidarity,
CHC
My undergraduate degree is in Political Science with an emphasis on City Administration.
Class 1 – Lesson 1 – Politicians are elected based on their personality and ability to get their voters to the polls. Administrators are hired based on their professional capabilities.
Pawlenty failed when he did not hire a professional to run MNDOT. Pawlenty can say he was trying to save money by assigning the DOT responsibilities to someone within his Administration, but what Professional Credentials does Molnau bring to the job?
Pawlenty should be criticized also for selecting Steve Swiggum to run the Department of Labor and Industry. What credentials does Sviggum have ?? Sviggum and his family are beef and grain farmers and he chaired the Unemployment Insurance and Workers’ Compensation Division of the House Labor-Management Relations Committee over TWENTY YEARS AGO.
The Department currently employs 500 ( up from 390 when Pawlenty was first elected – somebody should look into how many “politically-connected” appointees end up there.) The functions of the department are : overseeing the workers’ compensation system for the state; preventing workplace accidents and illness through OSHA consultation and compliance efforts; certifying and monitoring the state registered apprenticeship program; monitoring compliance with labor laws; regulating the state’s construction codes and licensing activities; and inspecting boats-for-hire. Both MNDOT and the Labor and Industry Departments are connected by the I-35 bridge structural collapse.
Pawlenty has not hired the best people.
His first Director of Labor and Industry, Jane Volz, resigned
… turns she failed to fund Workman’s Compensation for her employees.
Was Dianne Mandernach the best choice to be Commissioner of Health ? Certainly her handling of the deaths of 35 miners from mesothelioma could have been better.
Regarding Lieutenant Governor and Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau, she was asked whether budget considerations had anything to do with decisions on bridge maintenance, she responded “We put together a system in this state that addresses the needs that we have within the fiscal restraints we have as well.” So who determines how to resolve fiscal restraints … oh, that would be the Governor.
Pawlenty needs to lean on professionals not politically connected faux-experts. He should appoint a blue ribbon panel consisting of former Governors (Carlson, Quie, Wendy Anderson, etc.) and former MNDOT administrators to review the department to ensure that professionals are being heard over the voices of the politicians.
For more of my thoughts on this subject, I invite you to my commentary at Minnesota Central .
[...] Market driven tire pressures as evidence by the Ford Firestone disaster are not a good thing… There is very much a need for govt safety standards. To abrogate those would be disastrous. Just look at the case of the bus with retreads on the steering axle disaster from a couple months ago… Govt indeed has a place, but it needs to be funded at adequate levels… We dont need a DOT stating they dont need any more funding, only to have bridges collapse. [...]