In Minnesota, a half-dozen Republican heroes

Leigh Pomeroy

Reasonable folks in the Grand Old Party are hard to find these days. But there are some — at least six members of the state house in Minnesota, in fact, where the governor seems more interested in running for vice president of the United States than in performing his current duties.

These six Republicans did the unthinkable: They voted against their party's dictates to override the governor's veto of a very reasonable and long overdue bill to begin refunding the state's deteriorating transportation systems.

Remember, this is the state once heralded for its great infrastructure that just last year witnessed one its major highway bridges disintegrate into the Mississippi River. And it wasn't even the river's fault.

So what did these six Republicans get for voting their consciences instead of their party dictates?

To begin with, stripped of their committee leadership positions. And in the future who knows what else? The threat of losing their party's endorsement for re-election. Ostracism. Shunning. Even perhaps being labeled with the scarlet "A" — Anti-party bosses.

Now if the Democratic (DFL) leadership in Minnesota pulled such a stunt, they would hear about it. After all, this is a long-time DFL state that has from time to time elected moderate Republicans thanks to wide support among moderate DFL voters. Two recent examples are Gov. Arne Carlson and Sen. Dave Durenberger.

In fact Gov. Tim Pawlenty's two victories can be attributed to moderates — both independent and Democrat — voting for strong, moderate third party candidates. In 2002 it was former Rep. Tim Penny, and in 2006 it was former Minneapolis School Board Superintendent Peter Hutchinson.

Of course, like the president who campaigned on being a "compassionate conservative" in 2000, Pawlenty turned out to be quite different than the product that was advertised. Instead of showing reasonable leadership, he became a pawn of the anti-tax faction of the Minnesota Republican Party.

But back to our six Republican heroes. Just for the record they are:

• Rep. Jim Abeler, Anoka
• Rep. Rod Hamilton, Mountain Lake
• Rep. Kathy Tingelstad, Andover
• Rep. Bud Heidgerken, Freeport
• Rep. Ron Erhardt, Edina
• Rep. Neil Peterson, Bloomington

Many years ago, a guy named John F. Kennedy wrote a book entitled Profiles in Courage revealing the stories of a number of American statesmen, politicians and citizens who went against the grain to do what was right. If there were a Profiles in Courage for Minnesota in the early part of the 21st century, these six would more than qualify.

For more on this story see:

• "Override hardball hurts state" in the Mankato Free Press
• "Six moderates out, six conservatives in: GOP changes leadership in wake of override vote" on Minnesota Monitor
• "After the override, the fallout" on Minnesota Public Radio
• "House, Senate override a Pawlenty veto for the first time" in the Star Tribune