Getting what you pay for

Bridge collapse report critical of transportation agency

We can take several lessons in the aftermath of the 35W bridge collapse. One of which is that keeping taxes low and starving government can have negative implications. The independent report suggests that the funding situation at the Pawlenty/Molnau Department of Transportation was part of the blame with mistakes in the inspection process and tainted decision making on what to do with the substandard bridge.

This is what the no taxes, smaller government argument gets you. Governmental agencies incapable of performing vital tasks for the welfare of the people. Is there government waste? Hell yes. But the more constructive discussion is over what spending is important, where is the waste, and how can the revenue be properly and fairly raised? You can't get something for nothing with government too.

Remember, the reason Pawlenty put his Lieutenant Governor in charge of the Department of Transportation in 2003 is that he had made "cutting waste" at the DOT a priority in his campaign. Retrospectively, we can see this was an ill-advised policy that had a role in a major disaster.

Minnesota needs a new transportation commissioner

Before the bridge collapse, there was much to criticize in the performance of the Minnesota Department of Transportation's management. Whether it was bungling up vital road projects, poor communication on traffic control, or putting private license driver information on unsecured servers, it has been a mess during the Pawlenty administration.

Lt. Gov Carol Molneau, who also serves as the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation has not shined in the the aftermath of the bridge collapse. Her staff member for coordinating emergency responses had to be fired for essentially not doing her job for the last few years. She has been ill-informed on the bridge collapse aftermath. She essentially told Minneapolis to go to hell when it suggested the new bridge design include light-rail transit capability. Two of the losing new bridge design bidders sued the DOT after they chose the MOST expensive design, previously telling the vendors that the cheapest route was the way to go. While underwater searches were still underway, she appeared at a press conference with a nautical-themed shirt. Oh, and though the investigation of the reason for the bridge collapse is still underway, it appears the DOT bears some responsibility to poor and ultimately dangerous decisions in their response to known structural problems.

The Star Tribune has recovered her work schedule for the past three months and wrote about it's contents, or lack there of. It suggests, at minimum, the commissioner is not really involved in a lot of decision making. Worse, it appears that the commissioner may not be really doing much work at all.

• Where was the MnDOT chief?

Several prominent DFLers in the Legislature have called for her resignation from the DOT. Molneau and her boss, Gov. Pawlenty, have stood firm. The governor remains popular, but that didn't stop the Legislature from (wisely) firing his Education Commissioner.