| For Immediate Release | ctober 5, 2001 |
| Representative Krinkie Sets Governor Ventura Straight |
St. Paul -- Today, State Representative Phil Krinkie (R-Shoreview) said Governor Ventura is misleading the public about events surrounding the amount of money available for state employees in the current dispute over wages and benefits. "Governor Ventura is either deliberately misleading the public about what the legislature did or he is misinformed," said Krinkie.
Both Thursday and Friday, during two different interviews on KSTP AM radio, the governor said that "Krinkie provided no increase for state employees," and that he (the governor) had to fight for the increases he (the governor) wanted.
"I know facts are a hard thing for the governor to deal with when they don't fit his simplistic view of the world," said Krinkie. "But the facts show that the House State Government Finance Committee appropriated every cent the governor requested in his budget for salary and benefit increases for state agency employees, and it did so BEFORE House passage and with little to NO input from the governor's office."
"Once again the governor shows his ignorance of the legislative process," said Krinkie. "The governor proposes a budget. Individual legislators do not. I chair a committee that assembles a portion of the state budget and I was proud of the bill that the committee passed, a bill that included the total requested increase for wages and benefits for state agency employees."
Representative Krinkie also released an analysis done during the legislative session that showed that of all the budget committees in the House, the committee he chaired actually funded the proposed wage and benefit increases when the bills first passed the House.
"I have never argued against fair compensation for our state employees," said Krinkie. "I have questioned a number of state programs and proposed to cut or eliminate several programs in order to control overall spending. However, every time I have suggested cutting of one of these superfluous programs, the Ventura administration has fought me every step of the way."
-More-
-30-