Site Navigation
Audio
Photos
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
April 9, 2005
 |
| Meet Larry Pogemiller, 53, chairman of the Senate Taxes Committee and self-described Type-A personality. A longtime Capitol dealmaker with a well-known penchant for theatrics, Pogemiller has stepped up as one of Pawlenty's chief adversaries as Democrats try to outmaneuver the savvy governor in a session with high stakes for both parties. (MPR file photo) |
St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) - There's no shortage of statehouse Democrats eager to criticize Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, but few seem to enjoy it quite so much as Larry Pogemiller.
"I don't like his style of governance," said Pogemiller, a senator from Minneapolis. "He basically has a press conference style of governance. It's all public relations. I think it's more important to work on major issues that fundamentally affect education, fiscal policy, health care. I personally don't believe Governor Pawlenty has done a good job on that yet."
Just don't call them personal attacks. "On a personal level, heck, he's very charming," Pogemiller said, his staccato voice jumping nearly an octave. "On a personal level we get along great. But this is business, and so far, it's a disappointment."
Meet Larry Pogemiller, 53, chairman of the Senate Taxes Committee and self-described Type-A personality. A longtime Capitol dealmaker with a well-known penchant for theatrics, Pogemiller has stepped up as one of Pawlenty's chief adversaries as Democrats try to outmaneuver the savvy governor in a session with high stakes for both parties.
Pawlenty shrugged off the comments. "I just chalk it up to Larry being Larry," he said. "He's kind of become a parody of himself."
Pogemiller said he's more shy and private than his public self suggests and that reading accounts of himself in the newspaper often makes him "cringe," but political opponents say Pogemiller says or does little without ulterior motives.
"He's got a tremendously quick mind," said Sen. Bill Belanger of Bloomington, the lead Republican on the Taxes Committee. "I can sit down and meet with him for an hour and when we're done, I'm totally exhausted."
He has been at it for 24 years, but Pogemiller still relishes politics. In committee hearings, at press conferences or on public affairs talk shows, he's outspoken and aggressive amid a sea of Minnesota nice.
"I'm not Lutheran," Pogemiller joked.
Unlike many other top Capitol players, Pogemiller holds no aspirations for higher office, making it easy for him to play bad cop for his party. He represents a liberal Senate district likely to elect him as long as he wants to keep running.
This session, Pogemiller crafted a Senate strategy of passing some small pieces of Pawlenty's budget agenda - enough to keep state government running should another session end in a political stalemate, but not granting Pawlenty anything on his wish list.
Republicans call it a cop-out, only meant as political cover for Democrats if the House and Senate can't agree on a budget. They say Democrats haven't offered viable alternatives to Pawlenty's plan, opting for simple criticism instead.
Not so, Pogemiller said, switching from aggressive to passive. "He's the governor, I'm just one lowly legislator," Pogemiller said at one press conference.
Also, as he did two years ago, Pogemiller is going to great lengths to make the case that property taxes are rising as a result of Pawlenty's pledge not to raise state taxes.
Pogemiller has proposed freezing local property tax levies, arguing that the state is retreating on commitments to cities and schools. The freeze could force deep cuts, but he has said it would let Minnesotans see the true consequences of Pawlenty's pledge.
Belanger, who said discerning Pogemiller's motives sometimes "keeps me awake at night," said Republicans underestimate him at their own risk.
"Only he knows what cards he's holding and how he's going to play them," Belanger said. "You have to figure out where he's going - and what traps he's setting."
Pogemiller admits that clear purpose usually lurks behind his bluster and makes no apologies about his negotiating tactics.
"I think it's either a compliment or a criticism that I'm a tough negotiator," he said. "It depends who it's coming from."
Sen. Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul, shares an office suite with Pogemiller, and their families have become friends. She said Pogemiller's larger-than-life image at the Capitol belies a kind personality, recalling he was one of two senators to send her flowers in 2002 when she became the nation's first Hmong-American senator.
"I think his persona as a politician is not the most accurate reflection of who he is at home, in the community," Moua said. "I think his political persona was developed to reflect what he wants, which is to protect kids, and seniors, and the disadvantaged."
Pogemiller's Senate district is among the most diverse in the state, taking in working-class northeast Minneapolis, rapidly gentrifying areas across the river from downtown, the University of Minnesota campus and the Cedar-Riverside area, which has seen a huge influx of immigrants in recent years.
Pogemiller was born in the district, and still lives just blocks from his alma mater, De La Salle High School, whose basketball team he still faithfully roots for.
Pogemiller holds a graduate degree in public administration from Harvard, and has worked as an economic consultant, but unlike most colleagues who retain outside careers, he has given himself over to full-time lawmaking.
"This is an individual who has given up any other career to dedicate himself to this work," Moua said. "If he was a lawyer, he'd be the sharpest lawyer there is. If he was a surgeon, he'd be the most meticulous surgeon. He happens to be a politician, and he's going to be the best politician he can be."
A new father in the last three years, Pogemiller has mellowed some, colleagues say. Rep. Ron Abrams, a former Republican tax chairman, said in recent years he's seen Pogemiller become "less interested in suffering over every single semicolon."
Three years ago Pogemiller and his longtime partner, Jill Griffiths, adopted a toddler from China. Their daughter Sky Li is now 5, and they've since adopted a second daughter, Jia Xin, now 18 months.
"Having done that later in life, it's been real educational and energizing," Pogemiller said. "I was kind of at that age where I thought, you know, I'll never have children. But then we decided to do this. Everybody always says to you, you know, 'You don't totally get it until you have kids.' The truth of the matter is, that's kind of true."
So while he's still at the tip of the DFL's spear when the party confronts Pawlenty on budget issues, he said he also now knows there is more to life than politics.
"When we got our daughter, I remember one day at 4:25 (in the afternoon) I looked at the clock and said, 'I'm going home,"' Pogemiller said. "And I was walking out to the car when I thought, 'My God, in 25 years I've never done that."'
|
|