Representative Loren Solberg On The Budget

Saint Paul, Minnesota
March 30, 2009
By Marty Owings

When I asked folks around the Capitol to tell me who might be moderate enough to speak reasonalbly on the contentious budget issue, almost everybody gave the same answer "Loren Solberg". Representative Solberg has served at the Legislature from more than thirty years. He knows how the system works, but immediately strikes you as someone whose never let himself get too far away from the values of Bovey, Minnesota.

I sat down with Rep. Solberg for a conversation about the State budget and how this economic crisis has challenged Legislators. Solberg speaks in a slow, calming voice and you can sense the wisdom that his years in politics has brought him. He is passionate about the issues, but talks about them with a careful somewhat measured approach and almost always pushes the conversation toward one word, "compromise".

Solberg says we need to get past the "ten second sound bite" and "look at solving our state budget problems in very fiscally responsible ways". He adds that the key to getting through these issues is remembering that getting to the middle and compromising is the best way to get things done, especially in a tough budget environment, one he says is the worst he's ever seen.

Solberg says he strongly disagrees with the Governors budget proposal, saying that "securitizing tobacco bonds" (selling off the states future settlement payments) will not solve the budget issues. He says that the shifting of bond money is the wrong approach and adds that the Governor skirting the State Constitution by using bonds is akin to using one credit card to "pay off another card".

Full interview with Rep. Loren Solberg

Solberg says its important for the State bond rating that Legislators work together to solve the budget issues in ways that don't saddle future generations with debt, while balancing the budget. He says "we can't borrow or tax our way out of the current crisis". Solberg adds that in the end solving the State budget issues is going to be a "shared responsibility" which will require cuts, taxes and some shifts.

In the end, Solberg says that we have to get to the "middle" to serve the people better and quickly adds "if we don't get to that compromise then I don't think the state of Minnesota and the population is served the best". If it sounds like Rep. Solberg has been in these situations before, its because he has. He was a Mayor for the entire decade of the 1970's and joined the State Legislature in the last Great Recession of 82.

As I sat listening to Rep. Solberg I couldn't help feeling just a little bit better about the budget crisis we're facing in Minnesota. When the going gets tough we all want to believe our Leaders are living up to our expectations and looking for ways to get past partisanship and get towards solutions. For Rep. Loren Solberg the budget crisis is too serious not to look at every possible solution, including some compromise.